Spirit Detective Trainwreck Adventure
by 4fireking
Summary: Life for Yusuke and his friends has been fairly peaceful, yet when the Spirit Detective asks Hiei to watch his kids, a new threat makes itself known. A young man named Dizuki also finds his normal life changing. Could these two events be connected' (co-author BloodyEmeraldRose).
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho

This was written with the help of Anya Maygo He edited the chapter and then send it back to me. Now it's longer. than it once was. Since this is the first chapter I should write more but I can't think of more.

#

A male figure that no one seemed to notice, though this may have been because he was on the roofs of the nearby buildings running with incredible agility, sighed bitterly to himself.

It had been ten years since the demon known as Hiei Jaganshi had entered into the human world, and as far as the crimson-eyed man could tell, it hadn't changed at all. Well, other than the occasional demon walking amongst the humans.

Hard to believe the two races were getting along surprisingly well and beginning to co-exist together.

After choosing to remain in Makai, Hiei had made a nice living for himself and his mate Machiko there, and would have never come back to the human world if it  
hadn't been for a certain detective.

#

"It's certainly been a long time, Detective. I'm guessing there's a reason why you're here?" Hiei said carelessly, leaning against a dead tree with his arms  
crossed over his chest. Machiko was perched on a branch above him in what she called her 'standard' form, her long tail curled about the trunk for stability.

Hiei still looked the same, and it didn't appear like Yusuke Urameshi had changed much either with age…other than no longer keeping his black hair slicked back like he used to in the past and he had grown a few inches. Machiko hadn't changed much herself, with her black-and-white-striped hair and fur up to her waist, wickedly-clawed feet and golden eyes. She didn't take her 'demon' form very often anymore, which involved a lot more fur, claw-fingernails, slight horns and large bat wings from her shoulders; she'd told Hiei that she wanted to reserve that form for emergencies. Hiei sometimes wondered what she called an emergency.

"Can't a guy just drop by to say hello to an old ally and friend?" Yusuke chuckled with a grin. "But since you brought it up, it would be cool if you could do me a favor."

These words caused Hiei to roll his eyes, and he began to walk away. "Whatever this 'favor' is, my answer is no."

"Aw, come on, man! You haven't even heard what it is yet!" Yusuke exclaimed, running to stand in front of the shorter male. "I know you've probably been bored since things have become way more peaceful lately. That's how I feel too. So, how about you and I have a good ol' sparring match?"

"You came all this way just to ask me to fight you?" Hiei snorted. But Yusuke did have a point. While there were many strong demons in Makai that Hiei could test his strength on, it had become a bit monotonous. Only sparring with Machiko held any interest for him nowadays.

"Well, we never did get to settle our rematch. And who knows, you might actually be able to beat me this time~" Yusuke said with a teasing grin. "There's just one thing before we can go head to head…Keiko's been begging me to take her out since she claims I never do anything romantic for her, so we need someone to watch the kids…."

A small sweat drop rolled down the back of Yusuke's head since Hiei had turned on his heels and started to walk away from him once again. And he had already tried Kuwabara and Kurama; Kuwabara had flat-out said no, and nothing Yusuke had said did anything to change his mind. Yusuke had been unable to even find Kurama, though Keiko told him Machiko's sister had left a message about a honeymoon. Sure, Yusuke felt it had been about time the fox-boy proposed to the camouflaging girl, but it meant Hiei was his only option left. He just had to think of something that would convince Hiei to help him….

And then it hit him; a devious smirk formed on the brown-eyed adult's features. If this didn't work, he'd have to try to get Machiko to baby-sit; sure, if he got Hiei, he'd get Machiko anyway, but still. "Suit yourself. But I guess a washed up demon like you couldn't handle watching a couple of kids. Heck, you couldn't even beat me when I was just a newbie detective!"

Hiei paused, his body twitching as he almost felt tempted to use his blade on the cocky human. Instead, he would take on Yusuke's ridiculous task and then make him eat his words later.

"Fine. I'll do it. What time do you need me to watch the…brats?"

#

Hiei scowled to himself at the memory, knowing he had been a fool to accept this mission. For as long as he had worked with Yusuke, he should have been aware when the guy was trying to rile someone up in order to obtain what he wanted.

At least he could beat him later….

"Still complaining?" Machiko's mind-voice rang out inside his head.

Hiei glanced upwards. Machiko was flying high above him, but with his Jagan eye he could see her plainly. She and her sister were telepathic, but normally it required physical contact or eye contact, preferably both, unless it was each other. Hiei still didn't know why Machiko could mind-speak him without any effort, and her only guess was that it had happened when he'd marked her as his mate.

"I just can't believe I let Yusuke talk me into this!"

"Chill. I'll be there to help out. You might as well get the practice – with your level of passion, you might become a father yourself before too long. I'm amazed it hasn't happened yet, personally."

Hiei twitched. The possibility had occurred to him. He thought he'd been careful in prevention measures – he wasn't ready for kids!

"No matter how careful one is, sooner or later something will slip by whatever Kakai Barrier a couple attempts to erect as child-prevention. No birth control is perfect."

With those near-ominous words, Hiei reached the three-bedroom house where Yusuke lived. Hiei hesitated at approaching the door. The last time he had seen Yusuke's first born son, he had been the only one not cooing over the little diaper bag.

And he wouldn't have even considered holding the smelly thing if not for his sister Yukina bringing the tiny creature over to him with a gentle smile on her features. Nasuko was what Yusuke and his mate had chosen to call the child, and Hiei had never held something so frail and helpless before.

So the baby had been a little…cute when it stared up at him with curious dark eyes and a tiny smile on its face. Until it had spit up on his cloak….

Machiko dive-bombed down and landed next to him, took on a human form just as quickly and rang the doorbell. Then she stepped behind a bush to get a proper  
shirt on – she never did wear a shirt when she intended to fly, because then her shirt would get ripped, and she had trouble sewing.

Come to think of it, Kurama said Yusuke now had a little girl called Makoto as well. This made Hiei shake his head, only to blink when the door was opened by a small girl with her brown hair done up in pigtails who was grinning at him.

"Are you the one watching us, mister?" she asked cutely.

Hiei didn't say anything, only having an apathetic look on his face when a grinning Yusuke snuck up on his daughter from behind, lifting the squealing girl up into his arms.

"What did mom and me tell you about talking to strangers, Makoto? Especially creepy red-eyed demons," Yusuke teased, making the child giggle.

"Maybe this creepy demon should just leave," Hiei snorted out, starting to turn to do so.

"Still can't take a joke even after all these years, huh? Come on in. The kids have been looking forward to their 'uncle Hiei' watching them," Yusuke chuckled wickedly, moving to the side.

Hiei almost flinched at the nickname, and stepped into the surprisingly cozy room where a young boy was sitting on the floor, eyes glued to the TV screen. When he noticed Hiei, his eyes brightened and he ran over to him.

"My dad's been telling me all about you! My name's Nasuko! Ooh! Is that your sword?! Can I hold it!" exclaimed the boy who was the spitting image of Yusuke, reaching out for it.

"Do you want to cut yourself, boy?" Hiei scolded, moving away from the child and causing Nasuko to pout.

Machiko stepped in at that moment, returning to her standard form. That pulled Nasuko's attention in an instant. "Wow!"

Keiko walked into the room, and she chewed the inside of her mouth upon seeing Hiei. She knew the fire apparition wasn't nearly as cold as he had been in the past, but she still wasn't certain if he was the right guy to look after her children. She wasn't sure how good a role model Machiko would be either, but at least the dizzying-stripes girl would keep Hiei in line.

"Hi, Hiei. It's good to see you again," Keiko greeted with a faint smile. "You too, Machiko." Then she turned her attention to her kids. "Now, you both be good  
for Hiei and Machiko, and make sure you're in bed by 9 o'clock. Your daddy and I will see you in the morning."

"Aw! But I'm almost ten, mom! Can't I stay up later?" Nasuko whined out, sulking when Keiko gave him a look that clearly meant no.

Yusuke smirked faintly and handed Hiei a slip of paper.

"That's my cell number if you need to call us for anything. We'll be back around eleven, so have fun!" Yusuke said cheerfully, practically having to drag Keiko, who didn't seem to want to leave her two squirming kids she was tightly hugging, out the front door.

Hiei let out a bitter sigh and looked at the kids who were either smiling or grinning at him, knowing this was going to be an exceedingly long night.

#

The clock ticked away. Nasuko and Makoto had been pestering him with nonstop questions about himself most of the time or trying to get him to play silly  
games. Machiko ended up playing with them, after telling the kids that Hiei hadn't had a childhood and so didn't know how to or want to learn how to play  
games. They'd mostly left him alone except for the questions after that. Though Hiei would admit he was mildly impressed when Nasuko showed him how strong his  
punches were by making a pretty large indent on a tree in the backyard. Even Makoto, who was only six, could already use the Spirit Gun, though Hiei wouldn't  
allow her to shoot it or she might freak out the neighbors.

Yet as quiet and peaceful as everything seemed, Hiei had the strangest feeling that he was being watched. Yet he was unable to detect anything, so perhaps it was just a passing human or an animal.

Still, after all these years, he had learned to be cautious.

"The two of you, get inside. Now." Hiei instructed in a tone that meant "don't argue with me." He considered telling Machiko to join them, but then decided it wouldn't be good for his authority over the kids – even on a good day, Machiko rarely did what he told her. So instead, he glanced at her and gave her mental instructions. "You get out of sight."

She nodded and sprang upwards, clinging to the wall with just-barely-demonic hands.

Once the kids were gone and Machiko hidden – on the roof, no doubt – Hiei unsheathed his katana and pointed it in the direction where he believed he was being watched from. "If there's someone there, I suggest you show yourself. Otherwise, get lost."

"Your ego really is bigger than you are, Hiei," a cold male voice spoke up before a figure wearing a long dark cloak to conceal his identity appeared in front of the spiky haired demon.

Before Hiei could even react, the stranger held up his hand, using some form of energy to pin him to the wall! Is this demon energy? Spirit energy? Sacred energy? It almost feels like some combination of the three!

Then he heard a shriek from over his head, and Machiko launched herself downwards at the attacker in full demon-mode!

The figure turned towards her. He waited until she was in point-blank range, and then suddenly his other hand shot upwards and grabbed her throat!

Her shriek choked off and she started flapping her wings frantically and swiping at him with her hands and feet, trying to hit him. Hiei could see that her feet were mostly missing their targets – all she was really doing was shredding the lower edge of his cloak. But the strangest thing was her hands. She was trying to slit his wrist with her claws – either of them, the one gripping her neck or the one directing the energy holding him against the wall – and she was too close to miss, but her claws were sliding away a bare centimeter from his skin as if deflected by an invisible force field!

"How amusing. I'd heard you had a mate with more emotion than sense; I see the rumors were true." Then the hand gripping her throat pulsed with that strange energy and she was flung away from him and into the branches of the tree Nasuko was punching earlier! Then he returned his attention to Hiei, turned his outstretched hand palm-up, and closed his fingers into a fist.

"AGGGGGGGH!" Hiei screamed out in pain from having his Jagan Eye forced open and then ripped straight from his head as blood spilled down his face from the now-empty socket.

"I leave with these words, Hiei Jaganshi. Tell your friends that war is coming," the man said apathetically as he released his attack on Hiei, and turned to leave when the demon fell to his knees panting harshly.

Machiko climbed down out of the tree, still completely demonic, and crept over to him on all fours. "Ow. He really did a number on you, didn't he? We'd better get that bandaged before the kids see it, or they'll probably freak."

Hiei glared at her sullenly, but didn't argue as she ripped her already-wing-totaled shirt off outright, tore it a couple more times, and tied it about his forehead as an attempt to stem the bleeding. Then he watched her as she sat down on the ground and started plucking scraps of dark fabric off her footclaws. "You'd better go back into one of your…smaller forms. Your wings are hardly convenient when indoors, especially with human dwellings."

Machiko turned and stared him right in the eyes. "Hiei…I tried to do that before I came out of the tree. I can't! That freak jammed my morphing ability!"

Hiei stared. "I didn't think that was possible!"

"Neither did I! Probably only Kamiko can straighten this out, our twin bond can cut through a lot of problems, but that involves her being present!"

"…Damn."

#

Somewhere else in the city, a young boy of about fifteen named Dizuki was struggling to climb up a tall tree where a black and white cat sat meowing down at him.

"Don't worry, little guy. I'll get you down from there." Dizuki promised with a smile, reaching out a comforting hand to pet the cat.

He sighed, steadying himself on the much-too-thin branch where he stood, and gently took the cat into his arms only for the animal to get spooked. It let out a hiss and scratched at Dizuki's face.

"AHHHHHHH!" Dizuki screamed, falling from the tree and painfully landing on his back.

The cat was sitting on his chest, licking at its paw and acting like nothing had happened at all; then it gave a cute meow to a small girl who came running up to scoop her pet up into her arms.

"Thank you so much for saving Bonzai!" she chirped, staring down at a dazed Dizuki with a bright grin.

"N-no problem…." Dizuki replied with a weak laugh as he tried to sit up, only for his back to crack as he groaned and fell back on the pavement. Well, at least nothing seemed to be broken even if he didn't think he'd be able to move for a while.

"You're fired!" were the first words poor Dizuki heard when he stepped through the doors of the fast food restaurant where he worked.

"B-but, sir! Let me explain…I was trying to help-"

"I don't want to hear it! This is the third time you've been late. Enough is enough. You can pick up you final pay check on Monday. Now, get out of my sight!" the overweight manager snapped, turning his back on the teen.

Dizuki sighed, waving goodbye to some of the other employees who gave him pitying expressions; his shoulders slumped as he headed out the door.

Making his way home, Dizuki wondered what he was going to tell his parents. He had taken the medium-waged job to help out since his little sister was in the hospital with meningitis, and his mom was taking time out of work to be with her.

"I'm home…." Dizuki called out in a less than happy tone. He then remembered no one was here, running a hand through his hair and heading to his room to try and  
relax.

He plopped down in his desk chair, spinning around in it before starting up his computer. Yet something lying on the desk caught his eye, and Dizuki gingerly picked up the disk case where a blank CD Rom was inside.

"You guys didn't have to get me anything…." Dizuki whispered out with a small smile.

The other night, his father had been apologizing since neither him nor Dizuki's mom had been around much lately to spend time with him, and his father had promised to make it up to him. Dizuki just hadn't expected for his dad to go out and buy him a computer game.

There was no picture or name on the case which Dizuki found odd, but he shrugged it off and stuck it in where the screen remained black for the longest time. It almost seemed like the disk was defective, until a voice began to speak.

"Congratulations! You have been invited to Gamer Haven, a special arcade that only a select few are allowed to attend. It would please us if you would arrive as soon as possible. Use this map to find us, but do not allow anyone else to see it. We look forward to meeting you." a computerized female voice explained.

A map near the more shady part of the city appeared on the screen and Dizuki blinked since there was a red circle around a lone building. There was definitely something fishy about the whole thing, yet his interest had been piqued as well.

Knowing he had nothing else to do today, Dizuki looked over the map a few times to memorize it before turning off his computer. And just for safety, Dizuki grabbed up a pocket knife and stuck it in his back pocket, leaving a note for his parents in case he returned home late before running out with a sense of excitement washing over him.

He couldn't remember the last time he had ever won or been invited to something, so Dizuki wasn't able to help feeling…well a little special. Not that he was a conceited person.

Still, seeing some tough-looking men and punk-dressed demons eying him made Dizuki gulp nervously. Maybe he could handle the humans, but demons were another  
matter entirely – they often had far spookier "natural" ways to hurt people than just fists.

So when he saw the arcade that just looked like an abandoned building, Dizuki let out a sigh of relief. But when he went in, he wondered if someone was pulling a trick on him since most of the old arcade machines were covered in dust and spider webs, like they hadn't been used in years.

"Erm, hello?" Dizuki said wearily, slowly walking through the place and feeling just a little creeped out.

"Why, hello there!" a cheerful voice answered from behind, causing the young teen to jump and flip around with a startled expression.

An old man dressed all in white was grinning up at him. He was holding onto a cane to support himself and had an odd feather circlet around his head that made him look even more eccentric than he already did.

"So you're the one they call Dizuki, hmm? You're a lot scrawnier than I pictured you would be," the old man chuckled out, making Dizuki wince when the elderly man jabbed him in his stomach with his cane.

"I take it you're the one who invited me? But how come there's no one else here….?" Dizuki questioned, backing up some to put some distance between him and the strange man, who was obviously operating a few cards short of a deck.

"Because I have a special gift that's just for you. How would you like to gain special powers that would allow you to better protect yourself and your loved ones?"

Dizuki tilted his head at this, a laugh leaving his lips as he placed his hands behind his head, deciding to play along with the crazy person. There was no way this old man could actually give him something like that.

"Powers, huh? That does sound pretty cool, but what's the catch? I mean, people don't just get unique abilities without there being some sort of risk involved?" Dizuki spoke up casually.

When a rather twisted smile appeared on the old man's face, Dizuki couldn't help but feel a shiver run down his spine. Why did he get the feeling he'd just said the wrong thing?


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho

This story was written by 4fireking and CainToYourAbel. After it was finished writing it was edited by Anya Maygo. This chapter is a little long you probably already know. It's almost twice as long as the last chapter. The thing I like about this story is the humor. When humor is used it's done in a way I think could make even the grumpiest of readers smile. Please read and review.

#

Dizuki wondered what kind of special gift the old man was talking about. There was no way it was going to be something good like money. It seemed like something that Dizuki would have until the day he died.

The old man was grinning now, revealing shiny pink gums where a few of his teeth were missing. Dizuki resisted the urge to cringe.

"I don't suppose you know what spirit energy is, do you?" At Dizuki's blank stare the strange man chuckled. "No, I guess you wouldn't. That's quite alright, I'll teach you."

Dizuki was really starting to regret ever listening to mechanical woman's message. "Um…yeah…I'm just…gonna leave now…" Dizuki trailed off, beginning to back up slowly.

This, however, was not in the man's plans. "You're not going anywhere," the dinosaur of a man scowled.

"Look, Mister," Dizuki started, panic rising, "my parents will come looking for me if- "

The old man snorted and waved Dizuki's idle threats away. "Kids these days are so paranoid. If you knew how to use your spirit energy, you'd never feel paranoid again," he baited the younger man.

"You're crazy!" Dizuki exclaimed, bumping up against one of the covered games in his haste to get away. The old man smirked.

"I'll show you then," he reported, the words hanging ominously in the air.

Dizuki was positive his heart was about to burst from his chest. _He's going to kill me. He's going to chop me into tiny bits and eat me._

Dizuki was expecting a lot of things. He was not, however, expecting a strange purple aura to start emitting from his potential murderer.

"W-what is that?" Dizuki called over the gusts of wind the aura was creating.

The old man laughed, waving his cane around. "That, my dear boy, is spirit energy."

When Dizuki got past the way he felt about this old man about to kill him he saw something that made his eyes grow wide and his heart feel like it was glowing. It looked like a small child, or possibly a large doll, but it was glowing softly. A part of him wanted to touch it.

And so, stupidly, he did. Only to instantly regret it when his body felt like it was being crushed like a bug. His knees buckled from the force and he collapsed to the ground. He curled up in the fetal position when he was certain he was being torn apart from the inside out.

"What… _What did you do to me_?!" Dizuki screamed as best he could, blood flowing from the corner of his mouth.

"Consider it a…jump start, if you will," the older man answered casually, like there wasn't a teenage boy writhing about on the floor in obvious pain. "Fight it, Dizuki," he tapped his cane against Dizuki's head. "You could bring the world to its knees now, but only if you fight!"

Dizuki screamed in response, howls of pain bouncing off the walls and filling the air. He was going to die. He just knew it. Dizuki wasn't a fighter; hell, he was practically a hippie. He closed his eyes, teeth grinding loudly as the energy flooded his system. He thought every bone in his body was going to break and his organs were going to explode. He receded into his mind, trying to block it out in a feeble attempt at coping. His brows furrowed.

He could feel something. Deep, deep inside him, something was worming around uncontrollably. He reached deeper still, trying to pinpoint its location. His eyes snapped open. _There._

With another roar of agony, Dizuki mentally grabbed onto the squirming ball of energy. It was going to tear him apart. It was going to rip him to shreds and-No. He snarled and clutched at the energy. And all at once the pain was gone.

"W-What just happened to me?" Dizuki asked when the pain was gone.

"You've been awakened of course," the old man said exasperatedly. Dizuki was panting as he sat up.

"What the hell do you mean 'awakened'? What the fuck was _that?!_ " Dizuki demanded in fear, scrambling away from the stranger. The old man stood with a sigh.

"Honestly. 'Why' this, 'what' that. A simple 'thank you' would suffice, y'know," he huffed like a child.

Dizuki was having none of it. "Answer me, you freak! _What the fuck did you do to me?!"_

The walking age spot blinked at Dizuki's harsh tone, a stark contrast to the shivering boy he'd been merely seconds ago. _And so it begins,_ the old man grinned internally. "I gave you the power you're going to need," he smiled slyly.

"Need? Need for what?" Dizuki asked in confusion.

"You'll see. Big things are on the horizon, my friend. Best be prepared," and with that the old man was walking away, waving his cane about jovially. Dizuki was positive that if the man wasn't in dire need of a hip replacement, the old man should've jumped and clacked his heels together for good measure.

"Hey! Come back!" Dizuki cried. But the old man was already gone. "Dude," he hissed to himself, "what the fuck was _that?!_ "

Then he stood up and went to open the door again.

"Of course," Dizuki said flatly upon seeing the rain hitting the pavement. He sighed. It was going to be a long walk back home.

#

Meanwhile at the Urameshi household, Hiei looked back and forth between Machiko and the doorway.

"So can you actually fit through a human's doorway in full yokai form?" He asked his mate.

Machiko scoffed and then folded her wings tightly to her back. "Of course!" she hissed as she climbed onto the wall and slipped through the doorway sideways, still clinging to the wall.

Hiei considered mentioning that doing that was going to leave holes in the wall inside. Then he shrugged and followed her in. His head started to hurt again almost as soon as he cleared the doorway. It was probably because he didn't have the Jagan eye in his head anymore.

He quickly shoved the pain away when the two children they were babysitting came waddling into the room.

"Why's your head bleeding?" Makoto asked in innocent confusion. Machiko quickly jumped in before Hiei could tell the poor child that an extra eye had been ripped from his skull and traumatize her for life.

"He…hit it…when…he fell from the tree!" Machiko lied lamely. The children giggled and Hiei sent her a glare. She smiled sheepishly. _"_ ** _So I hadn't come up with a better cover story, so sue me_**! _"_

"Why do you have wings?" Nasuko blinked up at her. They'd never seen her in full demon mode before.

"This is my full yokai form."

"Why are you using it?"

"Uh…"

"She used up her energy. Now she's stuck like that. Her reserves are terribly low," Hiei smirked when Machiko leveled him with a flat stare. The children laughed again and Machiko scowled.

Then another loud laugh rang through the room. Hiei only heard laughter this big from that detective Yusuke. The two lovebirds had come home.

#

"Machiko, since when have you been such a lightweight?" Yusuke jeered.

Machiko sent the former detective a scathing glance. "Oh, and who was it that managed to fly you away from a speeding semi-truck while they had two injured ankles and a half-lame tail?"

"Yusuke," Hiei interrupted, "we need to talk." He sent a pointed look towards the children. "Alone."

Yusuke frowned in confusion when he caught sight of the blood-stained bandage on Hiei's forehead. "Uh…sure," he replied slowly. "Kids, you two go find your mother."

"But _Da_ ad," they whined in unison.

"Now," Yusuke remained firm.

The children pouted but relented, sticking their tongues out when they knew for sure their father couldn't see them, causing Hiei to smirk while Machiko snickered.

Yusuke whirled around to glare at his children and they scattered quickly. Yusuke gave a self-satisfied grin and turned back to the pair. "So what happened to your forehead, Hiei? Did one of the kids poke you in the Jagan with a pointy stick?"

Hiei curled his lip. "No, you fool, there was an attack," he snapped.

" _What?!"_ Yusuke shouted in alarm. "There was an attack? Were my kids there?!"

"Yes and no," Machiko leaped in before Hiei could give the Spirit Detective a heart attack. "We made them go inside, but…" she hesitated. Continuing would involve…

"But?" Yusuke prodded.

Machiko shifted uneasily. "The guy had power like I've never seen! He batted us away like we were nothing! He stuck me in my demon form, swiped Hiei's Jagan eye, and then just took off!" She growled in frustration; the last thing she'd wanted to admit was that she'd been outclassed, because the only person she was comfortable admitting being outclassed by was Hiei.

"He took your Jagan?" Yusuke asked Hiei, eyes wide with horror.

Hiei brushed away the concern with verbal barbs.

"That's what she said, idiot."

Yusuke bristled slightly. "Yeesh, I was just asking, damn." He took a deep breath and then let it out again. "We have to go to Koenma," he went on, only to falter when Hiei voiced his own opinion on the subject.

" _We_ don't have to go see Koenma, _you_ have to go see Koenma."

A sweat drop rolled down Yusuke's head as he watched Hiei turn to leave.

"Wait!" Yusuke cried, the years falling away to when he was just the obnoxious high school student. "Don't make me go see Baby Breath alone!"

Hiei ignored him and continued walking. Yusuke started to sweat nervously. The idea of facing Koenma again looked a little less bleak with his friend by his side. So, Yusuke decided to try the only way he knew worked to get Hiei to do what he wanted: throwing Hiei's failure into his face.

"Dude, this guy took your eye! He attacked your girl! And you're just gonna let him get away with that?!"

Hiei glared at him. "I can find this guy on my own, thank you."

"Without your Jagan eye? You'd be lucky to spot Machiko against a brick wall ten yards away!"

Hiei whirled around again. "How about you say that again to my face?!"

Machiko sighed, knowing there was just no reasoning with Hiei at times. She walked between the two men and let her tail reach up and loop gently around her mate's neck. "Come on, Hiei, let's go talk about this outside."

She wasn't clinging to him tightly enough to cut off his breathing, but she wasn't letting go, so he had no choice but to follow her. He fixed Yusuke and his dopey 'you sly dog' grin with a glare and went out into the backyard again.

Once they were outside – and Yusuke was hovering in the doorway – Machiko released Hiei with her tail, only to grab him by the shoulder with one wing. Then she knelt slightly for an easier time making eye contact, bringing her other wing about to hold onto his other shoulder and taking his hands with hers.

" ** _Hiei, Yusuke might be obnoxious, but he's got a slight point: you have always found things with your Jagan eye. Without it, if we're going to find our attacker at all, we need to use Koenma's resources. And because this is your eye we're talking about, you should remain involved. Yusuke's going to go anyway, regardless of how much he complains, so if you're going to stay involved in the search you have to go along."_**

Hiei remained motionless the whole time she was speaking to his mind, his red eyes fixed on her golden. Then he sighed. "Fine."

Yusuke studied them. When Machiko had grabbed Hiei's shoulders with her wings, she positioned her wings so that their thumbs were on his shoulders. It gave him the odd illusion of wearing a dizzyingly-striped cape.

After Hiei agreed, Machiko released him. "Okay, so now that that's sorted out, can we go now?"

Yusuke switched his gaze to her and smirked. "You're not coming. Someone's gotta stay here with Keiko and the kids in case our new friend comes back."

Machiko stared at him. "What? But-"

"Unless, of course, _Hiei_ would like to stay?" Yusuke grinned slyly. If Hiei had any reservations left over going to Koenma's with him, this was likely to get rid of them completely.

Hiei's head snapped over to Yusuke. He thought about being stuck with the little monsters, both of them asking him unnecessary questions…and if Machiko went with Yusuke, that would mean _he_ would have to try to play the stupid kid's games!

"Yusuke is right. You should remain here," Hiei replied quickly before leaping away.

"You sonofa-"

"Hey, feel free to tell Keiko I got called out of retirement!" Yusuke laughed right before he disappeared after his friend.

Machiko stared after them, slack-jawed in shock. Then she let out a near-primal scream of anger. "YOU HAD BETTER COME BACK, YOU HEAR ME?! YOU'D _BETTER_ COME BACK!" With a soft hiss, she closed her wings tightly to her back to go into the house again. "Every lamp is going to be knocked to the floor by the time Yusuke comes back." She could manage doorways in demon form, but in a human's living room her wings were just awkward. Keeping them tightly closed helped, but she couldn't hold that forever, and their relaxed closed state was just wide enough to where they bumped into _everything_.

#

Walking through the halls of Koenma's palace, Yusuke couldn't help but reminisce. "Man, it's been a while since we've been through here," he chuckled with his hands behind his head.

Hiei gave a noncommittal grunt.

"I wonder if Koenma still looks like a toddler."

At this, Hiei gave a snort. "He's been in that form for centuries, you buffoon. A few years isn't going to make much of a difference."

Yusuke cut his eyes to his companion. He'd never admit it aloud, but he'd missed Hiei's bad attitude and snarky retorts. "And here I thought the married life would've made you a nicer person, Hiei," Yusuke teased.

Hiei flinched and scowled. "We are not married, we're mates. Please don't put your trivial human terms on something you know nothing about."

Yusuke let out a low whistle. "Trouble in paradise, huh?"

"I'm not having this conversation."

"It's cool, buddy. Just remember that she'd been raised for the most part as a human. From one married man to another, human women like shiny things," Yusuke leaned in and whispered the last part dramatically, like he was sharing some ancient secret.

Hiei looked totally unimpressed. "As if I would _ever_ trust advice from _you_ ," he said flatly.

"So? What is it?" Yusuke got in Hiei's personal space, grinning madly. "Did you p*** her off?"

"This is ridiculous."

"Not giving it up enough in the bedroom?"

"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response."

"Oh, come on, Hiei. It's not like we're talking about kids here or anything," Yusuke chuckled.

Hiei's eyes darted everywhere but at the former detective.

Yusuke froze. "No way," he breathed. Then his voice lifted. "Machiko wants a baby?!"

"Will you quiet down?!" Hiei hissed.

"Machiko wants a baby?!" Yusuke whispered loudly.

Hiei just wished there was a hole nearby so he could just crawl into it and _die_. He was hesitant about having a child because of being a demon who hadn't been raised by his mother. Finally, he decided to throw Yusuke one bone. "Actually, the topic just happened to come up while we were going to your house. I'm not sure what she wants." He didn't mention that she'd been surprised they hadn't had a baby sooner; that wasn't on Yusuke's need-to-know list.

Yusuke stopped his teasing and turned serious. "Hey man, don't worry about it! You'd make a…an interesting father," he chose his words carefully.

He thought he'd been braced for the glare he knew was coming, but he still flinched when Hiei did whip his head around for said glare.

"This topic was never discussed," Hiei hissed before brushing past the retired detective.

Yusuke frowned and followed after.

#

They strolled into the madness of the office ogres' domain. Hiei was trying his damnedest to get through there quickly and unnoticed, otherwise-

"YUSUKE! HIEI!"

Hiei winced when Boton's high-pitched voice shrilled dangerously close by. He panicked inside. He had to get away. He had to hide or she was going to-

The air left Hiei's lungs as Botan crushed the two men together in a hug. Hiei had never known the blue-haired grim reaper could be so strong; frankly, though, he only tolerated hugs – even enjoyed them a bit – if they were from his mate.

"I can't believe you're here!" she giggled, ignoring the squirms and grunts of pain. "It's been so long since I've seen you!"

"Get. Off," he ground out between his teeth. Maybe he should've stayed with the kids and sent Machiko instead.

"Oh, alright, alright; no need to get grouchy, Hiei," she teased as she released the two.

"H-hey, Botan," Yusuke smiled weakly through the pain of what he was sure was a bruised rib.

"What are you two doing here?" she asked curiously.

Hiei spoke first to avoid Yusuke's long-winded explanation that would no doubt include the absence of his Jagan eye. "We're here to see Koenma," he informed her shortly.

Botan put a finger to her chin in thought. "Hmmm, I suppose I could take you to him, but he's been pretty busy and you know how he gets when work piles up," she warned as she waved them forward.

Yusuke shot Hiei a wry grin before replying. "Well, far be it from us to disturb His Highness in such a desperate time."

#

Koenma sat huddled at his elaborate desk, stamping away at papers, barely giving the request a second thought. Permission to immigrate to the human world? Sure. Marry a human? Splendid! Eat your mother-in-law? Why the hell not? Oh wait, should probably fix that one…

"HEY TODDLER-BASTARD!"

The door to his office was kicked open and the enormous stacks of papers teetered dangerously before falling over, covering the floor in a carpet of white. A vein throbbed in the small prince's forehead. "YUSUKE! Do you know how long it took me to organize all that paperwork?!" Koenma yelled around his binky.

Yusuke almost laughed before remembering he had more important matters to deal with. He stormed right up to Koenma's desk with Hiei in tow and slammed his hands down on the desktop. "Screw your paperwork! You mind telling me why some guy showed up at my house while my kids were there and tried to kill people?"

Koenma was taken aback. "What in all the realms are you talking about?"

"Tell him, Hiei!" Yusuke nudged his stoic friend in the side with his elbow.

Hiei grunted and grit his teeth in annoyance. _Really? Well…it_ did _happen to me, so I'm the one with all the facts._ "Machiko and I were asked to…" he refused to use the word 'babysit,' "guard Yusuke's hell-spawn while he and Keiko were out. A man wielding immense unusual energy came and attacked. He stole my Jagan eye and Machiko's energy seems to be…stuck. I would almost call it frozen."

While Koenma was thinking, he put his hands together and looked down. Yusuke wondered if that was him postulating for something. "Hmm…interesting. What kind of unusual energy?" Koenma asked.

As this, Hiei seemed to hesitate. "It seemed to be a mixture of all three energies," he finally replied, annoyed at being unable to be absolutely certain of that.

"What? You didn't mention that earlier!" Yusuke stared at the short fire demon.

Hiei shrugged him off. "You wouldn't have been able to grasp the significance."

"If you two are finished," Koenma snapped, bringing their attention back.

"Fine," Yusuke huffed. Hiei simply remained quiet and unreadable.

Koenma sighed and resumed his 'thinking' pose. "It's just as I feared," he said cryptically.

Yusuke rolled his eyes. "Stop with the mysterious act and cut to the meat!" he shouted.

Koenma seriously considered throwing the heavy weighted stamper at his former employee, and then sadly discarded the idea. Instead, he closed his eyes. "His name," he replied somberly, pausing for dramatic effect, "is Takeo…"

#

Dizuki stumbled into his house in nothing short of a daze. The cold rain seeped through his clothing and bit into his skin, leaving him shivering and feverish. Or maybe whatever that creepy old man had done to him had made him feverish. He wasn't sure.

He struggled out of his shoes and socks before making his way back to his room. All he wanted to do now was just sleep. Fumbling his way up the stairs, Dizuki tore off his jacket and began peeling the clothes that had become a second skin off his body.

When he opened the door to his room, he glanced around warily, searching for any sign someone else had been there. Was it the old guy who'd left him the disk? How had he gotten in here? How had he gotten into the house? Hell, how did he even know where Dizuki's house _was?_ These were the questions that plagued Dizuki's mind as he put on a fresh pair of jogging pants to sleep in.

He was also thinking about staying away from the old man. After the pain and feeling like he was different Dizuki learned he didn't feel any different. What a rip-off.

Dizuki flopped onto his bed and closed his eyes. What was he supposed to do now? Just pretend it never happened? He damn sure wasn't going to tell his parents – they'd never let him leave the house again if they found out. He heaved a sigh and rolled over onto his back to stare blankly at the ceiling.

What if that guy showed up again? Dizuki frowned. He'd just have to get tough with the old man. Dizuki had no idea what the stranger was up to, but he was positive he wanted no part in it.

His eyes started to droop.

Yeah. He'd just have to get tough.

His eyes fluttered shut.

#

"Wake up."

Dizuki's brow furrowed and he frowned in confusion against his pillow. _Is it morning already?_ He mumbled incoherently before snuggling deeper into his cocoon of blankets.

"Seriously, wake the hell up."

"Five more minutes, Mom," he whined.

There was a snort.

Dizuki's eyes shot open and the hair on the back of his neck stood up straight. That was definitely _not_ his mother. He slowly turned his head to face the intruder.

"Rise and shine, sweetheart, you've got a big day today," the silky voice drawled sarcastically.

Dizuki's breath hitched when he spotted the silhouette of the voice's owner. Crimson red eyes peered back at him from the shadows.

"Gah!" Dizuki screamed, fighting to get out of his blankets.

"Wow," the shadow said blankly.

That simple response caused him to pause in his battle with the sheets. He looked up again. "Y-you wouldn't happen to be a…a guardian angel…would you?" he asked hopefully.

The silhouette blinked. Then it rolled its eyes. White teeth flashed from the darkness in a sarcastic smile, and for a brief moment, Dizuki was reminded of the Cheshire cat. Then the figure stepped lithely out of the shadows. "Think of me more as your guardian demon," it – she – supplied.

Dizuki stared.

She was short. Like, ridiculously short. However, he felt that pointing this out would not end well for him. Her short and spiky jet-black hair accentuated her sharp features and she was lean with hints of well-toned muscles.

 _She's awfully pretty to be a demon._

 _Wait._

 _She's a_ demon!

"S-stay back!" he ordered weakly, standing up quickly on the bed. He glanced around wildly for a weapon, and the only thing he could come up with was the letter opener resting on his night stand. He fumbled for it quickly before turning back to the girl.

She raised an eyebrow. " _Wow_ ," she repeated in amusement.

Dizuki was getting a bit more used to her appearance. "W-what are you doing here?" he stuttered, clutching the letter opener before his chest. She took a step closer and he held the small blade higher. _Of course, this isn't much of a weapon when demons can kill people without even touching them, but still…_

"Put that down before you hurt yourself," she snickered.

Dizuki was mildly affronted. "Excuse you, I can open like ten letters in sixty seconds with this thing," he defended. _Way to sound macho, you idiot._

 _The demon's lips twitched. "Right," she chuckled. "We'll play it your way then. I'm guessing by your substantial amount of spirit energy that you've had a visitor. Old guy? Kinda creepy? Gives off the strangest vibe ever?"_

Dizuki squinted at her in suspicion. "…Maybe." How'd she know so much about the old man? Has she been watching me?

The girl smirked. "There's no 'maybe' about it. You wouldn't have that kind of energy otherwise," she countered.

"How do you know about the old man?" he asked in confusion.

"Oh, from around," she replied evasively, waving a hand. He opened his mouth to respond, but she beat him to it. "Now put a shirt on, loser."

"Why? It's my house. If I wanna walk around without a shirt, then I'll walk around without a shirt." It hit him immediately after he said that that he was basically declaring that he was cool with the idea of being bare-chested in front of a girl, and he didn't even know her. "…Never mind." He glanced warily between her and the letter opener. "If I put this down, you won't eat me, will you?"

"Sorry to disappoint," the girl grinned, "but you're too scrawny to eat. Now hurry up and get a freaking shirt, because we're going outside."

"…Right," Dizuki sighed and placed the small knife back down on the nightstand. He moved to step down from the bed, only to have his foot get caught in the twisted sheet.

"Nghuh!" He let out a pathetic cry as he flailed before falling…right onto the girl.

"Mmph!" Her eyes were wide in alarm as his body collided with hers. Dizuki landed gracelessly on top of her. His eyes snapped open when he felt his mouth on hers. He froze before glancing down to stare at her like a deer caught in the headlights.

It didn't really help that their lips were still touching. The girl's face had gone red and she did _not_ look happy. She began to tremble in rage.

He got the feeling he should _probably_ get off her. And he was about to, honest he was, but before he could…

" _Get the fuck off me!"_ she shouted, smacking him away.

Dizuki cringed and hopped up. "It was an accident, I swear!" He was panicking, he just knew it.

"What the hell ever. Just put a damn shirt on and meet me downstairs." She scowled before storming out.

Dizuki was pretty mad at the demon – couldn't stand the way she bossed him around at something he would have done sooner if she'd told him why. He slammed his dresser drawer shut with a huff and began putting on some more suitable clothing, muttering under his breath about the demon girl who was probably in his kitchen right now stealing food.

When he finished changing, he stomped loudly down the stairs. "I'm ready!" he yelled, glancing around for his new annoyance.

 _She emerged from the kitchen, carton of ice cream in hand and spoon limply hanging out of her mouth. She studied him with a bored expression. "That's_ what you're wearing?" she asked around the spoon in her mouth.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" he asked, indignant that she was calling him on his clothes like she was his mom.

"Nothing, nothing," the girl waved dismissively. "I hear the unemployed look is really big now anyway."

He opened his mouth to inform her that he _did_ have a job…until he remembered that he didn't anymore. "Can we just go?" he snapped in frustration.

"Well sure, but aren't you going to grab a coat?"

"What? No…" he replied, unsure.

"You should grab a jacket," she informed him as she took another bite of ice cream.

"I don't need a jacket," he said stubbornly.

The girl shrugged. "Alright then." She turned to leave.

"Hey, wait!" he cried.

The demon paused, one hand on the doorknob, the other holding the ice cream carton. "Hmm?"

He frowned. "You never told me your name!"

The girl's expression brightened as she pointed to herself. "Oh, me? You can just call me Karai."

 _'Just call me,' huh? That means it's probably not her real name._ Then again, in a lot of books, many beings with magical powers were very careful about who they told their real names to, because names had power. And as long as she answered to it, it didn't matter.

He considered doing the same thing, and then decided it'd be too much work to make up a name and then remember he was supposed to answer to it. "I'm Dizuki," he smiled slightly.

"I don't care," she dismissed.

He gave her a flat stare. "Just tell me where we're going," he sighed.

She gave the boy a wicked grin. "Well, Dizuki…you and I are going on a little adventure."

#

Machiko glared at the ceiling. _Those jerks are definitely going to pay for this._ She grimaced when Makoto tugged on her hair. Again.

"You're gonna be so pwetty," the little girl giggled as she gathered more hair to put in the outrageous hairdo she had devised. She was having a field day with the black-and-white stripes.

Machiko blew at a white lock that was hanging right next to her face. This little girl was going to drive her crazy. The only reason she was letting this happen was because she'd promised before the attack.

Machiko had had the unenviable task of explaining to Keiko exactly where their husbands were. The conversation had gone something like:

"They just _left?"_

"Yes, Keiko. They left."

"Well, what are we supposed to do? Wait for them to come back around?"

"That's the idea."

"Those _bastards!_ "

"My thoughts exactly, Keiko."

Needless to say, Machiko was not a happy camper. While she was being tortured by the tiny monster doing her hair, Keiko was busy pacing back and forth, various scenarios running through her mind and not one of them good. Nasuko was sitting cross-legged in front of Machiko, observing her demon form curiously.

"Why are your wings so big?"

"So I can fly faster," she answered, trying to sound calm.

"Why are you so furry?"

"It gets cold way up high in the air, and jackets mess with my flapping." She felt like she was explaining stuff to a three-year-old.

"Why are your fingernails so _pointy?" he pestered._

A vein began to throb in Machiko's forehead. "For easy kills," she ground out between her teeth.

"Why-"

"How about we play the quiet game?" she interrupted flatly. Playing with the kids had been fun earlier, but it was starting to get old, especially with this new batch of questions. The last time, the question of pointy objects had been her feet.

Nasuko scrunched up his nose in distaste. "Nah, Dad makes us play that all the time. Why is your tail sooo long?"

 _Men._ This question had actually come up the first time, when he saw her in her standard form. Her answer had been 'for balance.' He was probably repeating the question because her tail did actually gain another foot or so in length when she was in demon form.

If Machiko ever had children, she was going to teach them that pestering Mother was something they _did not_ want to do…right up there with pestering Father.

Keiko came stalking into the room, her long brown hair swirling behind her like some raging hellfire. "Alright, you two. Leave poor Machiko alone," she ordered, hands on her hips.

Machiko had never been so appreciative of anyone in her entire life.

"But Moooommmm," they whined together.

"It's time for bed anyways. Upstairs, now. I want brushed teeth and pajamas on in ten minutes," Keiko ordered firmly.

The children groaned loudly before scrambling up the stairs, leaving Machiko with a frazzled disposition, back-rubbed fur and disheveled hair.

Keiko smiled slightly at her. "Sorry about them. They're just excited about you," she explained sheepishly.

Machiko balanced on all fours, held her wings up a bit and shook herself to settle her fur. Back-rubbed fur wasn't as bad for her as it was for most animals, as her fur didn't technically have a direction it flowed, but it was uncomfortable if it remained that way for too long. Then she looked up again and tried to smile. It didn't quite make it there; it bore closer family resemblance to a grimace. "No, no…it's…fine," she chuckled weakly. "The day I have kids, if one's a female, I'll have to put up with the hair-braiding then, so I might as well practice." She didn't even touch the barrage of questions; she probably would have to put up with a few questions when her kids gained vocabulary, but once she'd answered the same questions about five times, they'd probably get the message.

Keiko laughed softly. Then her expression slid into worry once again. "What will you do to get back to your normal state?"

Machiko sighed, stood up and carefully stretched her wings to their fullest extent before closing them again. "I'm hoping that Kamiko gets back from her honeymoon relatively quickly; our twin bond can mend a lot of nasty stuff."

"And if that doesn't work? Or if it takes a long time for Kami to come back?"

Machiko stood silently for a minute. Then she heaved another sigh. "Then I will have to hope Yusuke and Hiei can find some kind of…cure. I love flying, don't get me wrong, but having my wings out all the time is just awkward."

Her wings flicked, and a picture frame got knocked off of a nearby end table. Again.

Keiko picked up the picture, only replying with, "I can see that." Then she looked at the picture.

Machiko turned and looked over Keiko's shoulder. With her eyes enhanced in their flightworthy-demon state, she didn't have to come any closer to see. She didn't have _bad_ eyesight as a human, but her standard eyes were better, and her demon eyes better still.

It was a group shot: herself, Keiko, Yusuke, Botan, Kuwabara, Yukina, Kurama, Genkai, Kuwabara's sister – what was her name again? Oh yeah, Shizuru – Kamiko, and Hiei pretending that he wasn't in the picture.

"Don't worry, Keiko; those guys have been through hell together, and they've always come out on top. This is just a trip to Spirit World for information; they'll be back with the results."

 _They'd better report back – after all, it's_ my _shape that had gotten stuck in one mode, not just Hiei's third eye getting stolen!_

Keiko sighed as she set the picture down again. "I hope so."


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho

This store was done the same way as the last two chapters with the same two people doing what they do. The problem is not edited the way my friend who helped me wanted it to be edited. I will have to edit that later. Until then please enjoy this chapter.

#

Karai was grinning madly at Dizuki's shouts and cries as she pulled the tile closer to close the portal back up as she jumped in.

When Dizuki landed, he landed hard. He groaned and turned his head to see…a palace? Maybe he'd hit his head harder than he'd thought…

Karai landed lithely next to him, nothing but elegant grace and agility. Something he couldn't help but be jealous of.

"I can't believe you did that!" he exploded on her.

Karai gave him a disinterested stare. "You wouldn't have gone in if I hadn't pushed you," she shrugged.

When he told her as much, she waved him off like one would a particularly pesky mosquito.

"God, you're such a crybaby. I can't believe the old man chose you of all people," she muttered under her breath.

"Wait, what?"

"Nothing!" she sang brightly.

Dizuki was finally fed up. "Look," he snapped, "I've fallen out of a tree, lost my job, got stalked by some creepy old guy who _put_ something in me all while giving me some speech about making me stronger, and then you show up, drag me out of bed, shove me down a _hole_ , bring me god knows where, and you expect me to be _okay_ with it?!" Dizuki was breathing heavily by the time he was finished, wild eyes wide and hair in total disarray.

Karai blinked in surprise before grinning. "My, my. There might just be hope for you yet," she cooed, pinching his cheek in mock affection. Dizuki scowled and shoved her hand away, causing Karai to snort. "Look. You want answers. Well, they're in there," she pointed to the looming palace.

"Fine," Dizuki frowned before beginning to stalk up to the giant doors. "Let's go."

"Yes, that's all very theatrical of you," Karai pointed out while staying rooted to her spot, "but you have no idea where you're going."

"Oh," Dizuki faltered and threw her a sheepish grin, "right. Lead the way."

#

"Okayyy," Yusuke drawled, "and?"

Koenma sighed and tilted his cheek to rest against his knuckles. "There's not much to go on. It was rumored that he was trying to create a new type of energy; one crafted from spirit, demon and sacred energy. We never held much merit to his theories, because he was a raving lunatic, but from the looks of things, he succeeded. This is bad," the tiny ruler whined sulkily.

Hiei scoffed under his breath. They'd come all this way for virtually nothing. "Well, I see you're just as useless as you've always been, not that I'm surprised," he snarked condescendingly.

Koenma opened his mouth to yell at the spiky-haired demon when Yusuke opened his mouth first. "Wait, wait, wait. What do you _mean_ he was a raving lunatic?" Yusuke latched onto those words, leaning forward in alarm.

Koenma fidgeted under Hiei's sharp stare.

 _And here I thought having his jagan ripped out meant he couldn't read minds anymore._

"Nice to see you're still as intuitive as ever, Hiei," Koenma grumbled under his breath before shifting uneasily. "It's true. Reports state he was using captives as experiments, usually resulting in death. Takeo was elusive. By the time we'd find where he was hiding, he'd picked up and moved on to avoid being caught."

"Oh, well, that's just fan-freaking-tastic!" Yusuke scowled. "This guy was around my kids!"

"It's not as if they were actually harmed," Hiei pointed out listlessly.

Yusuke snapped his head in the direction of the fire user. "Easy for _you_ to say, Mr. I'm-afraid-of-fatherhood!" he countered loudly.

Hiei flinched before glaring. "I'm not _afraid_ of anything, you fool!" He bristled at the implication, wishing he'd never discussed such a private topic with his obnoxious comrade.

Yusuke huffed and turned away, pulling his signature face. "Sure could've fooled _me,"_ he mumbled haughtily.

Koenma glanced back and forth between the two in blatant confusion before drawing an alarming conclusion. He stood up in his chair, eyes wide and mouth gaping open, leaving his binky to nearly fall out. "Machiko is _pregnant?!" Oh, that poor child._

Yusuke cackled and Hiei seriously considered going villain again just so he could kill the two jackasses he'd been stuffed into a room with.

"Not that it's any of your business," Hiei pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, "but no, somehow…that hasn't happened…yet."

"Oh," Koenma breathed a sigh of relief. _Thank Kami._

Yusuke was still snickering to himself when the door to Koenma's office was thrown open.

#

"Why…why does it feel like I'm going a dragon's throat?" Dizuki asked, glancing nervously at the dark tunnel walls that seemed to be alive.

Karai snorted. "You get used to it," she shrugged.

Dizuki slinked closer to her and further away from the walls. "I don't think I'll _ever_ get used to that," he complained.

"Do you _ever_ stop your incessant _whining," Karai groaned._

Dizuki pouted slightly. "Your _mom_ incessantly whines," he countered lamely. _Way to sound mature._

"My mother is _dead, asshole," Karai replied flatly._

Dizuki's eyes widened as he floundered. _Of course she is._ "I-I, um…I'm sorry?" he sputtered in a questioning tone, eyes shifting everywhere but at her.

Karai snickered and waved him off. "I'm just screwing with you," she giggled.

Dizuki's shoulders sagged in relief. "So, your mom's still alive?" he prodded in curiosity.

"Pffftttt," Karai made a face, "that old bat died off years ago. I just meant I was screwing with you about being angry."

Dizuki gaped at her before shutting his mouth. "Wow," he chuckled weakly, "you're just full of surprises…Doesn't sound like you guys got along very well…"

 _At this Karai's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, and for a horrifying moment, Dizuki thought he'd pissed her off. Her next words told him that while she might be pissed, it wasn't at him. "That's_ an understatement. Do you wanna know what her last words to me as she lay on her death bed were?!"

Dizuki actually didn't want to know, but he wasn't stupid enough to say so. Instead, he gave a meek nod.

" _You're an even bigger disappointment to me than your whore of a father_ ," she deadpanned.

Dizuki wondered if Karai even had a father. From the way she was explaining things to him she may feel blessed she never knew her father. He looked decidedly uncomfortable as Karai ranted about her mother.

"Like, who the hell says that to their _kid?!"_

He wasn't entirely sure if she wanted him to answer or not, so instead he just gave a firm nod.

Luckily she answered for him. "Crazy bastard, that's who," she fumed.

"Maybe she just didn't know how to express her love?" he suggested weakly.

She gave him a flat stare. "When I was four, she _ate_ my best friend. Literally. Ate her. Then she burned my teddy bear and told me being alone makes you strong. I could understand her eating my only friend, she was kind of a bitch, but _how are you gonna eat my fucking teddy bear?!"_

Dizuki stared at her in horror. What. The. _Fuck?_ "Dude," was all he could manage.

"Right?!" she huffed.

Dizuki just wished there was something to distract her from the extremely awkward conversation. His wish was granted when they came out of the dragon's throat tunnel. " _Dude_ ," he breathed again.

Karai glanced back at him. "What's wrong?"

"What are _those_?!" he hissed to her.

She blinked before smirking. "What's wrong? Never seen an ogre before?" she teased.

Dizuki flinched when one started screaming about…paperwork? His brow furrowed. "What are they doing?" he asked.

"Working," she shrugged.

"Ogres work in an _office? I thought they were stupid and lived in swamps!"_

"That's incredibly racist," she frowned, "did you think they lived with talking donkeys too?"

Dizuki flushed. "N-no! It's not like that!" he tried to defend.

Dizuki composed himself the moment a green ogre with purple hair raised his hand to greet Dizuki; it was a short hello because the ogre was busy.

Dizuki gave a half-hearted wave in return while smiling weakly.

Karai nudged him forward in almost a nervous manner, if the cautious looks she kept throwing around were anything to go by.

"What's wrong with you?" he wondered.

Karai glanced at him before continuing to look around carefully. "Oh, nothing really. It's just that we aren't really supposed to be here, so if you could, y'know, walk a little bit _faster_ , that'd be awesome," she said it so casually that Dizuki almost thought she was joking. His smile quickly disappeared when he realized she wasn't.

"Wait, _what_?!" he hissed.

Karai gave a sheepish shrug of her shoulders.

"What happens if we get caught?!"

"Oh," she chuckled lightly, "y'know, prison for life, executed on sight, there's really a fifty-fifty chance."

Dizuki's mouth fell open as he gaped at her. "You brought us here to _die_?!" he whisper-shouted.

"God, you're so dramatic," Karai rolled her eyes. "Will you just relax? They're not gonna notice us."

No sooner had the words left her mouth when a blue-haired grim reaper in a pink kimono spotted them.

"Hey! You can't be in here!"

"Aaaannndddd," Karai sang, "that's our cue to jet!"

She snatched a confused Dizuki's collar and started hauling a** down the hall, running along while he flailed behind her like a balloon caught in the wind.

"Wait!" the pink-clad woman cried. "You need an appointment!"


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho

This chapter was finished by getting help from CainToYourAbel. I'm afraid the chapter doesn't end with a cliffhanger but we can't do everything right when we are working on fanfiction so just for this chapter try to not get angry about their not being a cliffhanger.

#

"I don't wanna die!" Dizuki cried.

"Then get your ass in gear and _run_!" She growled, yanking him harder. Dizuki had just managed to catch her pace when the alarms started to blare.

Keiko turned back to Machiko who had settled on the floor.

"They've been gone for a long time," Keiko mumbled nervously. Machiko gave a reassuring smile.

"In sure they're fine, Keiko."

"It's getting late," Keiko sighed, turning to face the winged demon. "Do you want to sleep down here?"

Machiko glanced pointedly at her cramped up wings.

"I think that'd be best," she replied wryly. Keiko giggled slightly while turning around.

"Stay here a moment, I'll go get some sheets and a blanket for you," Keiko told her before disappearing down the hall. Machiko gave a mock salute after her.

"Will do," she smiled.

Machiko wandered around the living room aimlessly, observing the family photographs that hung on the walls, careful not to knock anything over with her wings. She smiled slightly at the happy faces that stared back at her. Her smile lessened at the thought of Hiei and Yusuke being dragged back into the dangers that came with the job of being spirit detectives. She wiped any signs of distress off her expression when she heard Keiko coming back down the hall. Machiko sweat dropped when she saw her friend.

"Here we go!" Keiko chirped brightly, at least four different blankets drowning her frame as she carried the sheets in her arms.

"Ermm.. What uh.. What'cha doing there Keiko?" Machiko chuckled weakly.

"Oh, these?" Keiko asked. "I wanted to make sure you wouldn't get cold!"

Machiko offered a stained smile, opting not to remind Keiko of the built in heating system that was her fur.

"Ah, gee.. Thanks Keiko.." Machiko said through her teeth.

"It's no problem!" Keiko giggled. "Here, I'll make the couch up for you."

Keiko set the blankets down in an armchair and began fitting the sheets on the couch. Machiko sighed and began to help her, taking one end in her hand and stretching it to fit over the edge. At least, she tried to. When the sheet wouldn't quite stretch far enough, Machiko furrowed her brow and tugged even harder. She huffed in annoyance when the fabric stubbornly resisted, and put her fingers under the corner to work the sheets over the corner. When there were four simultaneous ripping sounds Machiko froze. She stared wide eyed at the shredded sheet caught in her clawed fingers, her face the epitome of surprise. Her eyes darted up to a gaping Keiko. Back to the sheet. Back to Keiko.

"Uh.." Machiko gave a sheepish smile, "sorry?"

"Move your fucking ass!" Karai snapped, jerking Dizuki along faster. Dizuki wheezed from exertion, sweat starting to drip down his face.

"How are you so _fast_?!" He couldn't help but wonder.

Dizuki leveled her with a flat stare.

"Show-off," he grumbled under his breath. In response, Karai tugged him along harder, nearly making him trip and call flat on his face. He knew that was probably the last thing he wanted to happen since Karai would just leave his ass. The sirens blared around them, making the pair cringe every time the alarm reached its crescendo. They bathed the hallways in red every few seconds, leaving spots dancing in Dizuki's vision, and a throbbing in his head.

Karai snorted.

"They are pretty terrible at their jobs," she hummed.

"That's not what I-"

"Quick, turn here!"

 _Slam_!

Dizuki groaned loudly when he hit the wall with serious force, but Karai was already dragging him away.

"We really gotta work on your endurance, kid," she mumbled under her breath.

" I don't want to hear that now!" Dizuki shouted at her while she was dragging him.

"I'm just saying for future reference. Yeesh, why are you so grouchy?" Karai wondered casually, like they weren't in danger of being killed. Dizuki openly gaped at her.

 _"Why am I so grouchy?" He repeated breathlessly. "Why am I so grouchy_?!"

"Okay, okay," Karai giggled under her breath. "I get it! You're mad!"

"Ya think?!" He shouted at her. He desperately wished he had the balls to smack her upside the head or _something_ , but he really didn't want her to go back on her word about eating him.

"Uh, 'scuse you. You use your inside voice when you talk to Karai, _human_ ," she glared.

He was going to use more than his inside voice on her. If he had anything like a wooden sword he would show her how he was as good as she is. His thoughts were cut short when Karai stopped abruptly, and Dizuki slammed into her back. Not that it mattered, because she didn't even stumble from the impact. Dizuki, on the other hand, nearly fell over her and had to catch himself in the process. He let out a low whine when her shoulder connected with his ribcage. He stared helplessly at the tiled floor. It seemed like the only thing that ever happened these days was him getting injured.

"Oh, knock it off, it didn't hurt that bad," Karai snorted. Dizuki chose to glare at her rather than to respond. He pouted internally.

Stupid demon. Stupid old man. Stupid aura powers or whatever the _hell they're called_.

Things looked like they weren't going to be okay anytime soon. He expected the next thing to happen was it was going to get cold in this palace and he would get cold. He was almost hoping for it because Karai had the hands of a steam pipe.

Dizuki stopped his inner ramblings when Karai turned to him with a serious expression. For a terrifying moment, he thought she could hear his thoughts. Demons could do that, right?

"No matter what happens," she warned in a low voice, "don't say anything, okay? Let me do ask the talking."

Dizuki stared at her with wide eyes. What the hell did she mean by that? She wasn't going to confront the ones chasing them was she? Karai gave a half-smile and pinched his cheek in mock affection.

"You just stand there and look all cute in that frail, weak human way you do," she cooed.

"You think I'm cute?" His cheeks warmed up.

"That is the one thing you'd pick out of that conversation, isn't it? You're quite the little narcissist, aren't you?" she snickered.

"W-wait, it isn't like that!" He tried to defend himself. It seemed like all he ever did around her was defend himself.

"Just shut up. I meant what I said, okay?" She was frowning now while staring hard at the door. Dizuki shifted uneasily and nodded in hesitation. Karai glanced at him from the corner of her eye. When she saw his nervous demeanor her lips twitched. "Don't you worry. Nothing's gonna happen."

And with that she threw open the doors.

Dizuki found there were no ogres behind this door. For some strange reason there was a baby sitting at a desk. Dizuki wasn't sure if the person sitting down was a baby but there was a pacifier in its mouth. Was this the right door?

Dizuki rubbed at his eyes on disbelief. Nope, that was definitely a baby.

His gaze wandered over to the other two occupants in the room, one looking surprised, and the other, who he noticed bore a strong resemblance to Karai, was looking tense, his hand resting on.. _Holy shit_. _Is that a sword_?!

While Dizuki was busy gaping at the rooms inhabitants, Karai strolled in casually, seemingly unfazed by toddler in a large puffy blue hat.

"Honeyyyy," she all but sang, "I'm hoooomeee!"

#

A dark figure perched itself in a tree across the street from Urameshi household, the night morphing around him, almost as if bending to his will. Even the shadows seemed to cower in fear from his presence. He observed the quaint house with disdain. How could one ever choose this life over the Makai? He all but snorted when he caught sight of the winged bitch with the fur putting sheets onto the tiny couch. Was she supposed to be their protection? Pathetic. He'd already almost killed her once. His lips curled into a smile at the thought the great spirit detective and his lacky coming home to find their families dead.

He even imagined it. Dumb spirit detective would come home probably thinking " Nothing like a wife's homemade meal to help me get through a dad" and then he would see her dead. The face would be left alone but the rest of her body would be punctured and ripped open.

And the agony of the former Jagan wielder. Takeo breathed in deeply through his nose as if he could smell the blood. It would be glorious. A crazed grin twisted his lips, morphing his face into something from a horror movie, as he thought of the children. He would eat them, and then hang their bones from the ceiling fan, displaying them proudly for their failure of a father to see.

Takeo watched as the two women bid each other good night, the brown haired human flipping the light switch on her way out of the room. He snickered in amusement as the demon woman tried futilely to find a comfortable position on the lumpy couch that wouldn't strain her large wings. She huffed and sat up in frustration, scowling heavily at the many blankets the tiny human had draped over her. These were the women that two of the demon realms most powerful fighters had chosen for mates? How utterly disappointing.

Takeo felt his lip curl up into a sneer when the demon bitch stood up stiffly to approach the picture window that gave a lovely view of the living room. Her eyes searched the darkness sharply, scanning the treelines for anything out of the ordinary, senses spread out across the landscape. He tensed when her gaze landed on the tree he was using as camouflage, preparing himself to strike her down in an instant if need be. After her eyes lingered warily on his tree for another moment, she finally looked away, continuing her silent vigil. He felt his muscles relax again.

The woman seemed satisfied at whatever she she saw, or didn't see, and moved back onto the couch to try her hand at sleeping once more. Takeo smirked. It was just a waiting game now.

Yusuke stared in shocked silence at the mystery pair that had dared to barge into Koenma's office. Didn't they know that only he was allowed to do that? The girl bore a strong resemblance to his short friend. He couldn't help but notice Koenma's nervous fidgeting as the toddler shifted in his chair uneasily. Yusuke couldn't help it.

"Who the fuck are you?" He blurted out.

"Who the fuck am I?" Dizuki frowned in offense. "Who the fuck are _you_?"

Karai snorted at his oh-so-articulated response before patting him him on the shoulder.

"Hush, sweetheart. The grown ups need to have a discussion," her eyes found Koenma, and she smirked, "although, I suppose that's a poor euphemism, wouldn't you agree, Baby-Face?"

Koenma's cheeks turned red in anger from her not-so-subtle jab.

"You-"

"No, seriously!" Yusuke interrupted impatiently. "Who the hell are you people?!"

Dizuki had to be the first one to introduce himself because Karai talking to anyone was never going to happen.

" My name is Dizuki. I was just an ordinary guy a few days ago until this demon showed up in my room. She brought me here not me but if you hurt her...I don't know why but I will destroy you."

Karai's eyes widened and they flew over to gaze at the hard edged expression Dizuki was wearing. Was he insane?! He couldn't just come waltzing up into the ruler of Spirit World's palace, and then make threats at two of the strongest fighters known in all three realms! Hadn't he been listening at all when she told him to let her do the talking?! She wanted to smack her hand against her forehead in secondhand embarrassment. Still..She bit back the smile that threatened to creep onto her face from his earlier threat.

" _If you hurt her.. I will destroy you."_

The little dork.

"Oh?" Hiei spoke up for the first time since they'd barged in. "Will you now?"

He took a threatening step forward, making Karai tense up.

"And just how do you plan on accomplishing that," his eyes flashed dangerously, " _boy_?"

"By lifting up my foot to crush your ass, short stop!" He mocked with a smirk. Karai and Koenma gaped while Yusuke guffawed. Hiei, on the other hand, did not share their speechlessness.

"Big words coming from a nobody," he growled, "maybe I should cut your tongue out to keep you from making any more idle threats."

"I'd like to see you try!" Dizuki stepped forward confidently. Karai glanced between the two nervously. Maybe this was a bad idea.. No, scratch that, the entire plan had been a terrible idea. Though, to be fair, she never could've predicted this. Where was the adorable, whiny little puppy of a boy she'd been forced to endure spending the majority of her evening with?

"With pleasure!" Hiei scowled, taking another step forward. Karai cringed. And now they were going to freaking die. All because this punk ass had to go and grow a pair.

"That's enough Hiei!" Koenma's voice rang out clearly in the tense atmosphere of the crowded office.

Karai edged between the two with a smarmy smile in place.

"Ease it up there, buddy. No need to cause a scene. It might make his highness clutch his pearls," she remarked dryly, glancing at the flat faced toddler. Hiei scoffed at her horrible attempt to diffuse the situation. When a calming hand was placed upon his shoulder, Hiei nearly chopped it off out of reflex. He glared down at the hand, his eyes wandering up the length of the arm to find its owner staring at him intently.

"Yeah, Hiei. We could at least hear why they decided to storm the castle," Yusuke said carefully, shooting pointed looks in the intruder's directions. Hiei wondered again just how the hell he'd managed to find his way back in this position. Miles away from home with this moron pinned to his side, asking him not to kill somebody. Again.

"Tch," Hiei shrugged the hand off, "whatever."

Hiei still cared about the situation but he wasn't going to deal with Mr. Spirit Detective now without the urge to slice their hearts out.

"Well, that was awkward introduction," Yusuke grinned before directing his attention to the only girl in the room, "and just who are you?"

Karai gave Hiei a cursory glance before turning to face the former spirit detective.

"Karai," she smirked. "Just call me Karai."

"Well, Karai," Yusuke drawled, "mind explaining this situation?"

Karai opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by a loud shrieking voice.

"You can't be in there!"

 _Ah, hell._

Karai made a face. Seems their blue haired buddy had finally caught up to them. Karai turned halfway, not willing to put her back to the strangers before her, Dizuki following her example. She snickered at the appearance of one very ruffled looking grim reaper.

"I'm so sorry, Lord Koenma!" She cried in an out of breath manner. "I tried to stop them from entering!"

" Yeah...a blue haired grim reaper was really going to stop us," Karai laughed at Boton.

"Excuse you!" Botan puffed up. "I am a highly trained grim reaper! I knew exactly how to stop you!"

Dizuki and Karai exchanged skeptical looks.

"Then...how did..we get past you?" Dizuki asked slowly, rubbing the back of his neck. Botan flinched and faltered, deflating as her cheeks turned pink.

"Like I said," Karai snorted, "because she couldn't stop us."

"Just who do you think you are?" Botan demanded.

"Didn't we _just_ do this?" Karai groaned. Dizuki nudged her in the side.

"I'm Dizuki, and this is my..demon, Karai," he introduced the two again.

"Demon?" Karai asked, affronted.

"That's what you are!" Dizuki defended.

"You didn't have to phrase it like that!"

"Well, I'd call you my friend, but I feel like you'd make fun of me for it," he said dryly. Karai considered this.

"Fair point," she shrugged.

"Enough!" Koenma declared. "Tell us what you're doing here!"

"I know something you don't knowww," she sang tauntingly, making the toddler shaped ruler's eye twitch.

"What do you know? And why did you bring this boy here? You know that bringing normal humans here is forbidden!" He growled around his pacifier. Karai seemed totally unfazed by his agitation, waving him away dismissively like one would a fly.

"Rules, rules, rules. All you people care about is rules," she sighed dramatically.

"He asked you a question, girl," Hiei snapped. Her eyes darted over to the third shortest person in the room, a sneer on her face.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't talking to you, Mr. I'm overcompensating," she crossed her arms.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho

Thank you CainToYourAbel and Anya Maygo. This is the longest chapter posted so far and it's one of my favorites. Why? Because it has all the humor you would look for in a Yu Yu Hakusho fanfiction. I'm afraid my author's note might be terrible but I was tired writing it so I'm fine with the bad reviews.

#

"What did you call me, Ms. Untrained?" Hiei yelled. Hiei was starting to sound louder than when he was against Yusuke.

Karai knew damn well that Hiei could kill her. She also knew there was a time and place for fighting and this _definitely_ wasn't it. Having said that…

"You heard me, you fucking hedgehog!" she snapped. "Or did losing your third eye make you hard of hearing?"

There was a brief pause as the tension spiked.

"How do you know about that?" Hiei hissed.

"Oh, buddy. _Everyone_ knows. Even the losers in Spirit World know about it. Your loss is the word on everyone's lips right now. And boy, word has gotten around _fast_ ," she smirked.

"Why didn't I know about it, then?" Koenma muttered sulkily. Everyone ignored him.

"Enough of your games; tell us what you know," Hiei demanded. "And maybe I won't kill you, or your ridiculous _pet_."

"Hey!" came Dizuki's indignant cry.

"Hey, no one insults the idiot but me!" she warned.

"Dude!" he scowled.

"He shouldn't be so easy to insult then!" Hiei shot back.

"I'm right here, dammit!"

"Yeahhh," Karai had to concede that with a sigh. Dizuki gaped at her in disbelief. He opened his mouth to retort when she covered his face with her hand and pushed him back. "To answer your question," she said calmly, ignoring Dizuki's struggle against her hand, "the guy you're looking for is named Takeo."

"We already knew that," Yusuke complained.

"Gimme a minute!" Karai huffed.

Yusuke put his hands up defensively. "Okay, okay. Geez," he mumbled with a pout.

 _Is Karai going to tell them where they can find Takeo?_ Dizuki wondered as Karai spoke to them.

"He's planning on creating-"

"A super-mega-powerful energy from all three natural energies, yeah, we know that too," Yusuke cut her off. Karai gave him an annoyed stare.

"Do you actually have any knowledge worth value, or are you just going to waste more of our time?" Hiei asked condescendingly.

Karai opened her mouth to retort when Yusuke stopped her again. "Wait…how do you know all this?" He squinted at her.

Karai gave a nervous chuckle and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Well…"

Dizuki blinked. He couldn't remember seeing her nervous before.

Suddenly Hiei inhaled sharply, his eyes wide in alarm, catching everyone's attention.

"What is it, Hiei?" Yusuke wondered with concern.

"We must leave – now!" Hiei growled out.

If Yusuke didn't know any better, he'd say that his small friend was…panicked. Yusuke grabbed his arm, even more on edge now: Hiei Jaganshi did not panic. "What is it?!" he demanded in a shout.

Hiei yanked his arm back. "Machiko and Keiko are being attacked," was the last thing Yusuke heard before Hiei disappeared.

"Did he just disappear to help your friends or disappear because he doesn't want to help you? I hope he disappeared because he doesn't want to help you," Karai said.

Dizuki cringed. _Way to piss a guy off, Karai._

Yusuke clenched his fist. "I don't have time for this shit!" he declared before vanishing after his ally.

Karai snorted. _Fool._

"Aren't…aren't we going to help them?" Dizuki asked hesitantly.

"Hello no," Karai scoffed.

"But they need help! You said the guy was dangerous!" Dizuki cried.

"All the more reason to stay out of it," she replied coldly. "Besides, it's not them we came to see."

"It's not?" he wondered softly.

"You're horrible!" came the British accent from behind them.

"It took you this long to figure that out?" Karai smirked, and the blue-haired reaper gave an affronted huff before storming out of the room.

Dizuki knew that meant Karai and Botan weren't going to be friends anytime soon. She brought her opinions, her rudeness, and all her negative demon emotions into the conversation that turned Botan against her.

"Karai," came Koenma's sharp voice.

The two remaining occupants of the room turned towards the toddler ruler.

"It's not like you to wander so close to the palace," he threw her a pointed stare, "seeing as how you're wanted and all."

"You're a fugitive?!" Dizuki panicked. He'd been walking around with a criminal this whole time?! Karai grinned unashamedly at her comrade.

Koenma continued on through the interruption. "Why are you _really_ here?"

"Why don't you go bother the ogres, kid? The adults need to have a chat," Karai addressed Dizuki without taking her eyes from Koenma, a small smirk tugging at her lips.

"What? No way!"

"Don't worry, everything's fine," she reassured him. "It's just Spirit World business. And it's classified."

"But I…"

"Go on," she shooed him away with a flick of her wrist. Dizuki's shoulders slumped and he walked out of the room dejectedly.

Karai wasn't at all sad about brushing him out of the room. She didn't want him around when she had to listen to Koenma calling her a fugitive and making her listen to him.

"Well?" Koenma drawled, his fingers laced together under his chin. Karai leaned forward and rested her hands on top of the desk. She gazed at him through half-lidded eyes.

"Sadao has chosen his next pawn."

#

Dizuki wandered out into an open area of the crowded office that was teeming with different-colored ogres. He rubbed the back of his head nervously. Was he really supposed to talk to them?

One of the ogres brushed past him and Dizuki flinched, backing away until he accidentally collided with one of the desks. He watched in horror as the enormous pile of papers tottered dangerously to the side before spilling over. He felt his face burn in embarrassment as all at once, the ogres turned to stare at the flustered boy. Dizuki was painfully aware of how quiet the office had suddenly become.

Several seconds passed before he chuckled loudly in nervous anticipation. "U-um…my bad?"

The ogres' stares seemed to dissipate into doing their work and leaving Dizuki alone. Dizuki felt something that made him miss the ogres' stares.

Dizuki shuffled uneasily as one of the ogres bent down to gather the papers that had been mercilessly strewn about, shooting Dizuki a nasty glare as he did so. Dizuki moved forward to help, but froze when the ogre let out an annoyed growl. He backed away once more, feeling very out of place. Why couldn't he have just stayed in the baby's office? Or, better yet, he could have gone to help those people. They were a little rude, but they seemed like nice people. Whoever Machiko and Keiko were, they must've been special to Hiei and Yusuke. He gave a half-hearted kick to the floor as feelings of guilt began to twist in his gut.

"Hey! I already told you, you can't be in here!"

Dizuki flinched when he heard that blue-haired reaper's high-pitched voice that seemed capable of shattering windows.

 _Ah, hell. Not her again_. "I-I was just…um…I was told to wait out here," he stuttered.

Botan narrowed her eyes at the boy. She could be seeing if Dizuki was going to cause Spirit World trouble, or maybe she thought he was crazy to be in Spirit World. She squinted at him, seemingly sizing him up before giving a huff. "I'm afraid I don't have time to dawdle. The others will need my help, and I really must be going. Just please, don't destroy anything while I'm away," she frowned, turning away.

Dizuki's breath caught in his throat, and before he knew it, he was reaching out to latch onto her arm. "Wait!" he blurted out.

Botan stared down at his hand before glancing up at him with a quirked eyebrow. "What is it now? I told you, I really have to-"

"Can I come with you?" he interrupted.

Botan blinked in surprise. "I beg your pardon?"

"I-I…I-it's just…I wanna help," he admitted sheepishly.

"Why?" Botan gave him a suspicious look.

Dizuki wilted under her pink eyes. He really wanted to prove to Karai that he wasn't helpless, that he was strong, just like she was; but he also knew she'd be pissed when she found out he'd left after she'd explicitly told him no. After a moment's hesitation, he squared his shoulders and looked up with determination. "Because it's the right thing to do."

Botan's eyes softened slightly at his leveled gaze. He reminded her a bit of Yusuke…if Yusuke had ever had manners and wasn't so aggressive.

She almost snorted at the thought. "Alright," she nodded, "but you'll have to hold on tight."

"Tight?" he asked cautiously. "To what?"

Botan grinned before summoning her oar. "This, silly!"

"Um…" He chuckled weakly before backing away a step or two. Was it too late to back out? "Ya know, on second thought-"

"No time to waste!" She cut him off, grabbing him by the collar and yanking him onto the oar with her, beginning the ascent.

"W-wait!" he cried in panic. Botan ignored his pleas, shooting off down the halls.

"I'M AFRAID OF HEIGHTS!"

#

Machiko shifted restlessly on the uncomfortable couch, her wings getting shoved into odd angles as they tried to adjust to the cushions. She couldn't sleep from her built-up frustration, combined with the thought of that strange demon coming back.

If he came back, she wasn't afraid to fight that demon and make him leave her alone whether he liked it or not. She almost laughed at herself. She was beginning to sound like Hiei.

At the thought of her absent mate, Machiko felt a dull pang in her chest. Shouldn't they be back by now?

She shook her head and shifted on the sofa once more. It wouldn't do anybody any good to worry – worry led to distraction, and she couldn't let herself get distracted right now.

Her eyes roamed over to the picture-frame window. Keiko's idea, no doubt, probably to create the 'perfect family in a perfect home' vibe. Machiko stretched and laughed softly to herself; if the neighbors only knew the truth.

She slid off the sofa on all fours like a winged tiger; as long as she was awake, she might as well check the perimeter. No enemy, no human, no intruder in existence could hide from her eyes…not after she'd spent a lifetime spotting her twin sister.

Her conscious mind wandered over to thoughts of Kamiko as her instincts continued to survey her domain. Kamiko had been born without any real color; it could be considered off-white in the worst way, impossible to tell what the 'off' was supposed to be. Her hair had been outright colorless and see-through, and the only bright spot was her purple eyes. However, she could camouflage at the drop of a hat. It was something she could control, yes, but often she shifted colors to her emotions – like a bright green when she was jealous – and Machiko could vouch very strongly to the fact that she faded out in camouflage when she slept, making sure she couldn't be seen when she was vulnerable.

 _What an instinct._

Mother had told her when she was five that if she was going to hang out with humans, she had to pick one color for skin and another for hair and stick with it all the time. She'd gone for a skin tone that was somewhere between Machiko's two normal skin tones – when she was in human form, her black and white stripes were still there, just turned into two skin tones – and golden hair.

 _I wonder what Kurama's thoughts are about having the Invisible Woman as a bedmate_ , she laughed to herself as she wandered towards the horribly tacky window, peering through the glass as it fogged up just barely from her breathing. _I should come up with a tease for when I see her next. Maybe something about fox-demons. Yeah, yeah, he's living as a human, but still_ …

Machiko opened the window a tad, closed her eyes and inhaled deeply through her nose. The truth was, for all that she'd gotten good at spotting Kamiko's faint outlines when her sister was camouflaged, she rarely actually used her eyes to locate the girl: she used Kamiko's heartbeat, scent and energy. Her senses and demon energy spread out away from the house in a mile-long radius, sweeping every inch like one of her sister's fine-toothed combs; if anyone with high energy levels was nearby, she'd find them.

Then, just about where the trees were, she found him.

And it was the same energy as before.

Machiko didn't react; if there was one thing Hiei had made sure was throttled into her head during their time together, it was that if your foe picked up on any fear, the fight was over. She sighed out the window and closed it again, quite as if she hadn't sensed anything. She'd considered making that sigh loud enough for him to hear, but had deemed that just going for natural was a better idea.

 _I bet he thinks he's way smarter than me. Well, the moment he tries to attack, I'll be the one who's going to prove that she's smarter_.

She stopped on practically the other side of the room from the awful window and turned to face it again. She knew she had to contact Hiei, because the last time they'd fought this guy it was separately, and well, everyone saw how well _that_ had gone: she got stuck in her demonic form, and he'd lost his Jagan eye.

She didn't dare close her eyes to build her focus, because she was sure her foe would count that as a vulnerability and strike. Fortunately, she had another option – while her mate had three eyes, she had three eyelids in demon mode: the standard-edition uppers and lowers that everybody had, and a third eyelid that swept sideways across her eye _and which she could see through_. Very useful for playing video games, making sure one didn't need special goggles to see while flying…or psyching out a foe who expected you to blink first.

Machiko closed her third eyelids and focused all of her energy, bit by bit, into forming her telepathic bond with her mate. Long distances left her a bit dizzy, which was why she hadn't tried to speak with Kamiko lately, but she knew that holding off this guy was something she could only do for fifteen minutes, tops. All she could pray was that backup would come before he got past her, which may or may not involve killing her. Her brow furrowed in concentration as sweat dampened her face-fuzz.

Ah, here we go. She couldn't lie in telepathy, so she kept it simple and let her inner hunter come forward, which was the only way she could 'sound' calm…but Hiei would know it was a false calm.

" _ **Hiei, he's here.**_ _"_

No sooner had she relayed the message than the window she'd really gotten to despise shattered into a million pieces.

She didn't scream; screaming would have been a waste of effort. She shielded her eyes from the glass with a wing instead. Getting him outside would be fabulous, because then the destruction to the house would be limited to just that stupid window, but she wasn't confident in her ability to get him there.

As if from a distance, Machiko heard the alarmed cries of Makoto and Nasuko, along with Keiko's panicked shouts. "Machiko?!"

"Hold!" she ordered, hearing the heavy thumps of feet descending the stairs.

"Are you okay?!" Keiko asked urgently.

"I'm fine!" she snapped back, shaking her wing to clear off any remaining glass shards before closing both wings tightly along her back and dropping to all fours. "Just go back upstairs and don't tell me what room you pick!"

"It won't make a difference," came the chilling chuckle of the man who'd attacked them earlier. He must've known what Yusuke and Hiei had planned and waited for the dust to settle.

Machiko glared at the bastard with enough balls to go after the family of Demon World's strongest. Keiko had merely been a passing thought, really, a pack-mate if she was to put any funny terms on it; nothing mattered at this point except the opponent. "I'm not afraid of you! You threaten humans, you threaten human _children_ , especially after that treaty was made…you're nothing but a low-class demon who wants to die!" Kamiko would probably be a blood-red with anger over this, if not outright turn black.

"Oh? And I suppose _you're_ going to be the one to kill me?" He smirked condescendingly.

Every muscle in Machiko's body tensed, each contributing to its own purpose. She wasn't about to risk anything fancy, not with a noncombatant pack-mate and children who shouldn't be fighting to kill at this point still somewhere in the house. "You're damn right!" she hissed.

First order of business: at least attempt to get him out of the house if possible, and do some real damage to some vital system if it wasn't. True, the guys would want to get answers out of this freak, but instinctively she knew that for all that she was angry with him and that was jockeying up her already-high demon-mode energy, he was out of her league. If she went at him with the intent to kill, she _might_ manage to incapacitate him. Anything less probably wouldn't touch him.

She flipped backwards and hit the wall, swiveled and then kicked off in an all-or-nothing wings-closed leap, knowing she didn't have enough room to get a proper running start for this move so she had to get all her power on the first propulsion.

From the way his hands had lifted, he was expecting to grab her wrists, an understandable mistake: the last time she'd leaped for him, it had been with her hands outstretched before her ready to claw his eyes out, and she had indeed lifted her hands for that identical move. He hadn't been expecting her to pull her arms in and hit him in the chest with her head. It was a very Yusuke move, in her opinion, but it got him staggering backwards. She knew it wouldn't work a second time.

She also knew she needed to get some distance again, because the last bad thing had happened because he'd gotten a hold of her. She spread her wings to give herself some wind to heft away from him.

That was when he adjusted for her surprise move and caught her. One hand seized her neck – again – the other grabbed one of her wings.

She remained a silent fighter, knowing that making a noise was a waste of air. As soon as her feet fell to the floor, she closed her free wing and started clawing at the floor with her footclaws, trying to move _towards_ him. _If I can't hit him with my head again, I'll at least force him to back outside_.

"Congratulations," he growled darkly, "you startled me." He hefted her up – she let go of the floor immediately when she realized he was going to do that, so as not to break a claw – and spun them around once before throwing her roughly towards the wall.

Her other wing snapped open upon finding herself airborne, and she flapped furiously to get control of her uncontrolled flight.

Spreading her wings wound up her undoing, as the 'first finger' of her left wing laid itself neatly against the wall, lifting her wings up to get ready for a downstroke lined herself up with her wing, and she hit the wall with a loud _crack_!

Her left wing had been caught between an irresistible force and an immovable object: herself and the wall. The inevitable result hurt more than the time Sniper had succeeded in shooting her tail, and she hit the floor on all fours.

 _Mourn the broken wing later_. Machiko glowered up at the tall man that seemed to loom over her threateningly.

"Where's your mate, Machiko?" he taunted. "Don't tell me he left you here _defenseless_." When she didn't move right away, he took on a snobbish air. "Is that all? I expected more from the mate of one of Demon World's finest."

She growled softly. Then she decided to be something resembling civil while she came up with a proper plan…or her instincts came up with something innovative. "You have the advantage of me; I have no idea who _you_ are."

The man curled his lip up at her, but answered with equal formality. "Well, I suppose you at least deserve to know the name of the one about to kill you. You may call me Takeo."

Machiko slowly pulled herself to two feet. Her left wing hung uselessly over her shoulder like some elaborate cape…if a cape could have the sensation of pain. And as she couldn't seem to make it move _at all_ , she had to conclude that she'd somehow dislocated it at the shoulder as well. Left-handed attacks would be absolutely impossible as long as her wing was like that, and so would all her kicking attacks unless she spread her other wing for balance – which wasn't smart.

Her only real good option would be to get him talking until the guys came back. Fighting was clearly something that she had to save as a last resort. At least she'd gotten her breath back. "What is it that you want, anyway?"

Takeo paused. "It's not about what I _want_ ," he replied in a tone of reminiscence. He paused again.

Machiko arched an eyebrow. _Looks like I read him right. He's another ass who likes to hear himself talk. Perfect for a stall; monologuers always go down in the movies._ "So…" she attempted to pitch her voice like she actually wanted to know, "what _is_ it about?"

He laughed the exact way she thought he would: like a mixture of a cat choking up a hairball and, ironically enough, the rumble of thunder before a storm hit. And boy, was a storm about to hit.

"That," he drawled, strutting towards her with purpose, "is for me to know. I'd say 'and for you to find out,' but you'll be dead long before then."

And with those words, his huge, meaty hand locked itself onto her head, covering her face. The last thing she could coherently think of before being tossed out of the broken window like a ragdoll was just how much she hated being manhandled.

#

Koenma sat in heavy silence upon hearing Karai's information, absorbing the dangerous situation they'd all been placed into. Both of them, actually; as if it wasn't bad enough that Takeo was running around causing trouble, now Sadao had to show up and make everything that much more difficult. Koenma released a heavy sigh. "If what you're saying is true-"

"It is," she interjected immediately.

Koenma pushed past the interruption without pause. "Then we need to keep this contained. Does anyone else know? Does _he_ know?" he asked pointedly.

"No. He doesn't know yet," Karai shook her head.

Koenma sometimes hated his position in Spirit World. "I'm placing him in your care," he told her firmly, "and you'll be under Yusuke and the others' care."

"What?!" Karai exploded. "Why?!"

Koenma leveled her with a heavy stare, making her deflate slightly. "Do you have any idea what could happen if he loses control – or if word gets out about this? We can't just let him go on with life as usual, Karai. It's just too big of a risk," he told her gravely.

"Well, _yeah_ ," she rolled her eyes, "but why do _I_ have to babysit him? And more importantly, why do I have to be monitored by _them_?"

"Easy. He trusts you-"

"No, he doesn't!"

"Maybe not implicitly, no; but he trusts you more than he does Yusuke or Hiei, and at least he knows you, where he doesn't know Machiko."

"That still doesn't answer why I've gotta hang out with the Scooby Squad," she huffed.

Koenma gave a wry smirk. "Please; like I'd trust you alone with him. I'm surprised you even showed up with the boy, I would've thought for sure that you'd just kill him and be done with it. Which makes me wonder," he leaned forward on his hands, "what's in it for you?"

Koenma's gaze was better at finding the truth from people than an ordinary toddler. "Ouch, Karai winced while placing her hand over her heart in mock agony, "that really hurts, Koenma."

Koenma gave her an unimpressed stare.

"Uh…I don't want the world to end?"

Koenma crossed his arms, quirking a brow.

"…It was the right thing to do?"

Koenma scoffed, and even Karai had to wince at that lame excuse.

She sighed in exasperation, looking away. "I was _hoping_ that you'd expunge me for…y'know," she gave a pointed glance to the toddler.

Koenma snorted. He should've known. He leaned back in his chair, locking his fingers together and resting his chin on top of them. "That alone wouldn't give enough validation to just let you go freely," he contemplated out loud. Karai's shoulders dropped. "However, if you help deal with Sadao _and_ Takeo…"

Karai cringed. The last thing she wanted to do was get mixed up in Takeo's shit again.

Koenma watched her discomfort with smug amusement, noting her fidgeting. "Or I could have you seized and arrested right now," he added casually, "it's your choice, really."

Karai gaped. _That bastard_. "Fine," she ground out begrudgingly between her clenched teeth. She was too young to go to prison anyways. At least outside of prison she could run around as much as she chooses.

"No need to look so glum," Koenma all but snickered. Karai had been a thorn in his side for quite some time, and to say that he wasn't going to enjoy having her on a short leash to badger her as he saw fit would be a blatant lie. He always preferred his revenge best served cold, anyway.

"I don't have to, like…live in the human world or anything though…right?" Karai asked hopefully.

"Of course you do," Koenma shot her down immediately.

"But-"

"No buts," he denied firmly.

Karai pouted. "I'll bet it was crap like this that made Sensui go rogue," she grumbled in indignation.

"Still as whiny as ever, I see," he observed blankly.

"That's rich, coming from a baby."

"I AM NOT A BABY!"

"Goochy goochy goo," Karai snickered, pinching his cheek harshly.

Koenma scowled and smacked her hand away. "Go bring the boy back here, and then you're going to go assist Yusuke and Hiei. It's too dangerous to let Dizuki go, so he'll remain here until you get back," he ordered.

"Alright, alright," she waved him off as she turned to leave his office.

She wandered further down the corridor until she reached the workplace of the ogres. Her red eyes narrowed in confusion while she scanned the area, looking for the human.

"Weird," she mumbled to herself, scratching her head when she couldn't find him. "Maybe the little idiot got lost or something…"

"You better be careful who you call an idiot. And no, I didn't get lost because one of the nice girls working here was with me."

"Who the fuck are you?" Karai blurted, aghast at the sudden appearance of the ogre appearing in front of her face.

The ogre blinked before waving his hands sheepishly. "Oh gosh, I'm sorry! I thought you were one of the grim reapers! She's always busting my balls since I'm new here, y'know?" The ogre explained himself in a rush.

Karai cocked an incredulous eyebrow. "Right…"

"Are you…are you looking for someone?" the ogre asked hesitantly.

Karai's face brightened at the thought of the ogre being able to help her. "Yeah, real clumsy human, he's got-"

"Say no more," the ogre interjected flatly, "I think I know just who you're talking about."

"Really? Where is he?" She looked around the office as she spoke. Nope, still couldn't see him.

"After he knocked over a giant stack of finished paperwork-"

Karai winced.

"-he left with the blue-haired grim reaper. Uh, Botan I think her name was."

"What the hell do you mean he _left?!_ " she demanded insistently.

The ogre swallowed. "Exactly what I said: he got on her oar and left with her," he told her nervously.

Karai's fist made contact with the wall behind the ogre's head and pieces of the expensive marble crumbled to the ground, causing the ogre's eyes to bulge in fear. Her other hand tightened on the ogre's shoulder to keep her making eye contact with him.

"Where'd they go?" she growled. She should've known better. Leaving that moron by himself in a place like this…of _course_ he wandered off, after she'd specifically told him not to. She clenched her teeth in anger. _Fuck humans._

"T-they left for the human world! Something about wanting to help the others! That's all I know!" the ogre cried, close to tears.

Karai's mouth nearly dropped open in disbelief. Was Dizuki _insane?!_ He didn't even know how to use his Spirit Energy! Something akin to panic buzzed in Karai's chest, making its way through her veins. In the end, all she could manage was a strangled, "Son of a bitch!"

#

Machiko spit out a piece of Keiko's lawn. "Ow…" She scrambled back up to all fours before the freak had a chance to kick her while she was down. Any minute, Hiei and Yusuke were going to burst onto the scene and make some awful puns and threats before kicking this guy's ass. Well, she kept telling herself that, at least. That one thought kept her moving and kept the wish to lie down and die at bay.

"You're not dead yet, are you?"

Machiko nearly cringed when the taunting voice drifted over to her. She threw him a venomous glare as he hopped out the window, somersaulting into a landing. "No, but you're about to be," she hissed. Obviously, talking was getting her nowhere, so she'd have to resort to fighting once again.

Takeo snorted. "Big talk, coming from a demon that can't lay a finger on me," he jeered. Clearly, he wasn't counting her headbutt as 'laying a finger'.

Machiko let out a low growl. _We'll see about that!_ The only good thing about that throw was that it had wrenched her bad wing back and out of her way. She took long bounds around in the lawn, weaving around to once again put herself between Takeo and the house. Then she appeared before him, her arm back to strike. When he put his arms up to block, she switched around for a roundhouse kick to his abdomen. Her spin was extremely off-balance, and he flinched backwards, the only thing that saved him from having his gut ripped open entirely. She used her off-balance spin and a single flap of her good wing to back off before he had a chance to grab her leg and deal more damage. She landed several yards away, hopping back a few more feet for good measure. "What's the matter?" she taunted, ignoring the pain coming from her broken wing and admiring the five tears in his shirt that were revealing bleeding marks. "I thought you were supposed to be all-powerful or something!"

He did nothing but get angry; and that anger told her that mocking him, though dangerous, was working better than she'd hoped. "Maybe you're not as useless as I first thought," Takeo growled, shifting his stance.

Machiko smirked, thumbing her nose at him. "Maybe you're just not as strong as you thought you were," she quipped back.

Takeo spat off to the side, as if to rid himself of the bitter taste left in his mouth brought on by the striped cripple managing to land a second hit on him. "I'm going to rip your tongue out before I kill you so that you can choke on your insolence before you die!"

"Insolence? You haven't _seen_ insolence yet! I can kick your ass in verbal combat too, and boy is it going to sting!" Machiko snickered, a fiendish grin spreading across her face. She was mouthing off like a five-year-old who watched too much mature TV and she didn't care.

Takeo bristled at her words. "Enough!" he roared, "I don't need any of my power to murder you! I'll kill you with my bare hands!"

Machiko's outside grin never faltered, and inside she smirked. Angry hands were careless hands, and that was something she could fully use to her advantage. Everything was moving forward according to her plan.

Now all she had to do was avoid getting careless again…

#

Dizuki screamed the entire time he was with Botan. He was still afraid of heights.

"If you scream any louder, you're going to break the sound barrier," Botan complained over the top of his panicked wails.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Dizuki groaned miserably.

Botan's head snapped around to peer at him. "Don't you dare throw up on me!" she warned, cringing away from the green-faced boy.

"Why are you so loud?" he grumbled. "Karai was never this loud."

Botan's eyes narrowed and she swirled her oar around to flip it upside down and rightward again. Dizuki's stomach lurched into his throat, and he dry-heaved.

"You've got some nerve talking about being loud, you know!" Botan huffed. "At least I make up for it by being useful."

"But Karai said you were just a glorified secretary," Dizuki mumbled warily.

Botan gave an overdramatic gasp. "I'll have you know that I am Chief Pilot of the River Styx, and I've served as a detrimental part in saving the world various times, thank you very much!"

"Whatever you say," Dizuki trailed off disbelievingly.

Botan's cheeks puffed up, and she waved an accusing finger over her shoulder at him. "I should just drop you, and say it was an accident!" she threatened.

Dizuki's face paled even more. "W-wait!" he chuckled nervously. "Don't do that! We were just starting to get to know one another!"

Something told Dizuki the grim reaper he was riding with didn't want to know anything about him.

"You're lucky that you seem to be of interest to Lord Koenma, or I just might," Botan sniffed indignantly.

Dizuki gave her a sheepish smile. He opened his mouth to reply, but screamed instead when Botan directed the oar to swirl round and round into a flurry of oncoming clouds. He dropped his grip on the oar, instead wrapping his arms tightly around the mischievous reaper.

Botan made a choking sound at the lack of oxygen and wrestled an arm in between the two that were currently clinging to her as if she was some sort of life line, prying his limbs from her rib cage. "Let go! Are you trying to kill us?!" Botan cried in a mixture of anger and panic.

Dizuki only tightened his hold on her. "No! If I let go, you'll do the loopty-loop thing again, and I'll fall and die!" he argued hysterically.

"We'll die now if you don't get a hold of yourself, you bloody moron!" Botan insisted, smacking at his hands while trying to keep the oar steady.

"Promise you won't do it again!" Dizuki demanded like a four-year-old.

"Are you insane?!"

"Promise!"

"Fine, I promise! Now let go before you kill us both!"

Dizuki smiled in self-accomplishment because he beat Botan. He upheld his end of the childish bargain and released her.

Botan grunted and rolled her arms around to get the blood circulation flowing again. "Honestly, you're worse than Yusuke," she complained with a growl.

"He's been on this thing, too?" Dizuki asked.

"Of course he has," Botan waved a hand dismissively, "all souls of the deceased must ride upon an oar with a Reaper to the River Styx."

"…Souls…of…the deceased?..."

"Mhmm," Botan nodded the affirmative.

Dizuki sat in stunned silence for a moment. And then, "HE'S DEAD?!"

"Don't be ridiculous," Botan scowled. "He _was_ dead. And then he came back to life. Well, actually, he's died and come back multiple times…but that's beside the point."

"So if I die, I can be brought back?" Dizuki wondered with sparkles in his eyes.

"Not likely," Botan snorted bluntly, effectively crushing Dizuki's hopes.

"Well, why not? _He_ got to come back!"

"Those were all very special circumstances," Botan acknowledged. "He paid dearly for each and every incident. I was hoping he'd managed to get out of this life, but then this happened…"

"… 'This life'?" Dizuki mumbled softly.

"The life of a Spirit Detective, Botan clarified. "He's stopped a lot of catastrophic events from happening, you know."

"But from what I gathered, you need someone else to stop future catastrophic events going to happen?"

Botan hesitated before nodding solemnly. "It's very difficult to find a possible candidate, you see," she started, "there's a very thorough screening, and there have to be requirements that are met. The Spirit Detective before Yusuke, well, he…"

Dizuki waited on bated breath for Botan to continue, completely enthralled.

"He became very unstable. He saw something that no one should ever see, and it changed him, it…warped him. He began to hate humans, and so, he decided to eradicate them."

"W-what?" Dizuki stuttered in a whisper. How did he, or anyone else for that matter, not know about this?

"It's true, I'm afraid," Botan nodded somberly. "He very nearly succeeded, too. If it hadn't been for Yusuke…"

Dizuki felt a chill crawl up his spine, and he couldn't help but shudder. He…no, the entire human population had nearly been wiped out, snuffed from existence, and _no one even knew about it._ "What was his name?" he inquired seriously. He felt that it was important to know the name of the man who had almost brought an entire race to extinction.

"His name was Shinobu Sensui," Botan replied grimly.

Dizuki felt the weight of the name on his tongue, and he raced to change the subject. "What does the screening process involve?" he smoothly transitioned the conversation away from the topic of the mad man.

"Lots of things," Botan shrugged. "Your personality, how you hold up under pressure, the character of your soul, whether or not you have any demon blood in you…although that one didn't quite pan out with Yusuke, I suppose."


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho

This chapter was finished today and it's all thanks to CainToYourAbel. This could be the shortest chapter so far but just know even if you the reader are not happy with it we authors found the action so cool and the comedy so humorous. Please read and review.

#

"Wait.. So.. This Yusuke guy is a demon?" Dizuki blinked. The man certainly didn't _look_ like a demon. Dizuki thought of the shorter guy and nearly snorted. Yusuke didn't really act like a demon either. He tilted his head slightly, wondering if perhaps that was a biased and stereotypical way of thinking; that all demons looked and acted alike. And then he realized that all his experiences with demons hadn't exactly been sunshine and rainbows. From Karai breaking into his house and waking him up in the dead of night to the ogres who have him dirty looks for accidentally knocking over some papers. A thought suddenly occurred to him. Was the creepy old man a demon?

"Well, yes, and no," Botan replied, pulling Dizuki from his wandering thoughts. "He was given a recessive demon gene, "The Atavism of the Mazoku", which only activates itself when a descendant is deemed strong enough to succeed it. Essentially, it's a demon sleeper agent."

"A.. Demon sleeper agent?"

Dizuki couldn't help but think of how freaking cool that sounded.

"Yes, you see, when Yusuke died the first time, he still wasn't strong enough for the gene to express itself, but once he died the second time, he'd been a Spirit Detective for over two years."

"And that.. Means what, exactly?" Dizuki mumbled sheepishly. Botan blew an annoyed sigh out of her nose.

"It means that Yusuke had gotten a lot stronger in those two years."

"So.. Because he'd gotten stronger, he turned into a demon when he died?" Dizuki thought his head was going to explode from all this new information.

"Bingo!" Botan grinned. Dizuki was silent for a moment.

"What's a Mazoku?" He couldn't help but ask. Botan nearly sighed.

"A Mazoku is an extremely powerful demon that usually eats.. Uh," Botan laughed nervously and fluttered her hands about like a butterfly, "nevermind! That's not important, silly me!"

Dizuki squinted suspiciously at her. He had never been very good at deciphering people, but he got the distinct feeling the reaper was omitting important information. He bit back his would-be argument, choosing instead to focus on a more important matter.

"Sooo," he drawled, "if Yusuke guy is so powerful, then he should have no problem beating this Takeo guy, right?.."

" In Spirit World they teach you how there are no stupid questions but to ask if Yusuke is a match against Takeo I can tell you that not believing in him is like giving up on how we protect everyone from demons."

Dizuki sulked internally. She didn't have to say it like that. He op opened his mouth to retort, but Botan beat him to it.

"There they are!" she pointed. Dizuki's breath hitched, and he leaned forward anxiously. This was it. This was the moment he was either going to become a hero, or die trying. He was-

"Wait," Dizuki squinted against the wind, trying to make out the figures below, "who's that with them?"

Machiko stared dazedly at the sky as she lay sprawled out on the grass of the front yard of Keiko and Yusuke's sad attempt of a normal home. She'd been doing great against Takeo for a awhile, but that all changed when he'd snagged her by her broken wing and threw her clear across the lawn. She struggled to try to right herself as she heard his gargantuan footsteps that seemed to shake the earth approach her. She'd never felt so utterly pathetic before. Takeo's fingers encased her throat, and he lifted her high into the air.

"What a useless creature you are," he rumbled out a chuckle. Machiko scowled and spit in his face, barring her teeth at him in rage. For a second, she thought she was done for, if the fury radiating off of Takeo in waves was anything to go by. But then his expression morphed into a smirk that she wanted nothing more than to slap off of his face.

"A weak last attempt," he crooned, "how charming."

With every word he lifted her higher off the ground, until she was face to face with the raving lunatic. Takeo raised his other hand and gently brushed the side of her cheek. Machiko cringed away in disgust. Takeo chuckled.

"You've lasted much longer than I thought you would," he admitted, "and because of this, I'm going to grant you a quick, honorable death."

Machiko's eyes widened as his free hand started to glow. She squirmed desperately in the iron grip he had her, but it was no use. Machiko closed her eyes tightly when his odd energy neared her face. How was Hiei going to handle her death? She felt heavy with grief at the thought of leaving Hiei alone in this world to suffer for her weakness. She grit her teeth and awaited the final blow.

 _THUMP!_

What the hell? Machiko's eyes shot open in surprise. Was that it? Was she dead? She didn't _feel_ dead.

"Leave her alone!" came the distinctly girly cry of the friend she thought had long ago left.

"Keiko!" Machiko panicked. "What are you doing?! I told you to run!"

" And Yusuke tells me to stay away from him when he's around demons he has to fight. Your my friend and he's my husband...I can help both of you and surely your eyes can see I want to help you."

"You stupid girl!" Machiko hissed in frustration at the human putting herself in harm's way. Takeo's glare landed on Keiko, who seemed incredibly frail and helpless at the moment to her friend.

"You should've listened to your friend, little girl," Takeo snarled before tossing Machiko away like she was no more than a crumpled piece of paper. Machiko hit the ground hard with an audible _thump_. She scrambled to her feet when the realization dawned on her that Takeo had begun to slowly stalk his way over to Keiko, looking every bit like a tiger about to pounce on it's prey. Keiko, the brave and stubborn girl she'd always been, held her ground, her hand unconsciously tightening around the piece of glass she'd snagged from the debris of her half-destroyed home. Out of sheer desperation, Machiko picked up the small piece of lumber that had no doubt broken off of the now non-existent porch that Keiko had used to throw at the behemoth of a demon.

"Stay away from her!" Machiko roared, charging after Takeo like a bat out of hell. Takeo didn't even blink as he snatched her back up mid-stride.

"Wait your turn," he sneered in her face, jostling her tauntingly.

"Fuck you," she spat defiantly, plunging the sharpened end of the piece of broken plank deep into his shoulder. Takeo cried out, dropping Machiko who scrambled over to Keiko without a second thought.

"You little bitch!" he bellowed, yanking out the object protruding from his shoulder. He whirled upon them with gritted teeth. "If you want to die together so badly, then so be it!"

"Keiko, get out of here!" Machiko pleaded in a whisper.

"No! I'm not leaving you!" Keiko argued.

"Please, just-"

Machiko was cut off as they were both thrown back by the powerful waves of energy radiating off of Takeo as he raged on. Machiko opened her eyes, and there he was, bearing down upon them with the clear intent to kill. With only a split second to react, Machiko chose to shield Keiko as best as she possibly could. She braced herself for the final blow as Takeo's glowing fist raised. And then, to her utter surprise, his fist stopped it's trek to her chest. Not by choice, but because of the very distinct thorny green tendril that was wrapped around it. There was a moment of silence as both parties stared in stunned confusion at offending object.

"I apologize for our tardiness," said a calm voice belonging to the red-haired man, his right hand fisted around the whip.  
"Yeah," drawled another voice, peering over the shoulder of Kurama, "cell phone reception is a real bitch in the country."  
Machiko stared into the golden eyes that resembled hers down to a T.

Kamiko gave a wicked grin.

"Hey, sis."

"Kamiko," Machiko choked out, tears of frustration stinging her eyes. "You're here."

"You bet your ass I am," Kamiko retorted, sending a nasty glare over to Takeo. "Like I'd miss a chance to kick the ass off the bastard ballsy enough to screw with my sister."

"Damn," Takeo cursed under his breath. He hadn't been expecting those two to show up. "You wanna die too?"

"I would not be so quick to make threats if I were you," Kurama's eyes flashed as he tightened the tension in his whip, leaving the thorns to embed themselves deeper into Takeo's arm. Takeo growled out in annoyance. He'd have to finish things quickly. He took a step forward, fully intending to use that whip to strangle the crimson haired kitsune, when-

" _Spirit gun_!"

Takeo hissed and back flipped out of the way of the giant mass of energy coming in his direction, the rose whip taking chunks of flesh to claim as it's own.

"Keiko!" Yusuke shouted in panic, Hiei beside him. "Are you okay?! Where are Nasuko and Makoto?!"

"I'm fine!" Keiko called back reassuringly. "And the kids are safe! I got them away!"

Hiei turned to his mate, face carefully composed to hide the worry that secretly bubbled under the surface.

 _'Are you hurt_?'

Machiko pursed her lips and winced.

 _'Just my pride._ '

Hiei's lips twitched ever so slightly.

"Sorry we're late to the party, Kurama," Yusuke smirked, cracking his knuckles, "we got a little held up."

"No need to apologize on our account," Kurama gave a half smile, "we've just arrived ourselves."

Yusuke opened his mouth to retort when his eyes landed in his house. Or, more specifically, what remained of it.

"Dude!" Yusuke cried. "YOU BROKE MY HOUSE?!"

Yusuke's friends all sweatdropped.

"Tch," Takeo spat off to the side, "you are supposed to be the heir to Raizen? How disappointing."

Yusuke's eye twitched.

"See," he drawled slowly, a menacing smile creeping along his features, "I was gonna make your death quick, but then you had to go and piss me off. [Italicize piss me off] I think it's only fair that, since you broke my house, I break your face!"

"Get in line, loser," Kamiko shoved him away by the face, affectively ruining his dramatic monologue. "He's mine."

"Teamwork, dear," Kurama chimed from behind her, making her scowl, "we talked about this."

"Ugh, fine," Kamiko rolled her eyes, turning back to Yusuke. "I'll hold him while you punch?"

"Deal," Yusuke grinned.

To say that Takeo was beyond livid would have been an understatement. This was not how things were supposed to go. They were supposed to be divided, and scattered between realms to make picking them off easier. He hadn't planned for a group attack. Takeo scowled, eyes falling to the pathetic heap on the ground that was the mate of Hiei. He hadn't planned on her being able to hold her own. As much as he hated to admit it, Takeo had underestimated her.

"You're not planning on leaving so soon, are you?" Hiei smirked, inching closer. "We have a score to settle, after all."

"I think I've already proven that I'm out of your league, Hiei, the swordsman," Takeo replied cooly, nose turned up in the air. "How's that headache, by the way?"

"I'm sure it'll pass, once I kill you," Hiei bit back. Takeo opened his mouth to retort when a shrill voice broke his focus.

"Yusuke!" Botan called, oar descending to the ground with a thoroughly terrified looking Dizuki gripping on tightly. "Is everyone alright?"

"Botan!" Yusuke grinned. "Just in time to watch us kick this guy's ass!"

Hiei scowled when he noticed the boy clinging to her like a frightened child.

"What is that wench's pet doing here?"

"Hey!" came the soft protest from wind chapped lips.

"Nevermind that," Botan waved away Hiei's question. "Just go give that guy a good, swift kick to the rear!"

"Right," Kamiko smirked, bringing her attention back to the hulking man before them all. Takeo observed the blunette with open disdain until his vision settled in Dizuki.

"Well, well," he chuckled, lips pulling back into a sly grin, "isn't _this_ interesting?"

Dizuki was not ashamed to say that he slid further behind Botan in an effort to block himself from the intimidating man's view.

"Hey, asshole!" Yusuke shouted. "You better get ready, 'cause you're about to see why nobody screws with us!"

And with that, Yusuke charged forward, nothing but a blur to the eyes of others.

When Yusuke was fighting for his friends his fighting abilities raised like no other human. He didn't need his good for nothing anorexic ancestor to hurt Takeo; a flurry of punches and a fast spirit kick hit him like Yusuke wanted them to.

Takeo hissed as he was assaulted by a flurry of punches, a well placed kick sending him flying back into the debris what used to be Yusuke's house.

"And that's how it's done!" Yusuke cheered, flashing a cocky thumbs up at his teammates. Machiko and Hiei scowled, while Kamiko gave a soft groan.

"It's only because I weakened him for you, yknow!" Machiko insisted as Hiei move behind her to reset her wing.

"Don't feed into his behavior, Machiko," Hiei chided, hands gently probing the area, "he's like a child, he just wants attention and any sort will do."

"Hey!" Yusuke interjected, mildly offended that a guy half his height was saying that he was like a child. "At least I don't look like one!"

"Laaaaame," Kamiko commented. There was an audible snap! [Italicize snap!] as Hiei shoved the protruding object back into place, a pained cry leaving Machiko's mouth. Hiei discreetly rubbed her shoulder, everyone turning away to cringe with phantom pain at thought of having a bone popped back in. Takeo grunted, pushing a wooden plank off of his chest to stand back up, a dark expression looming over his features.

"Oh, hey, look who decided to get up," Yusuke taunted, "you better wake up, sweetheart, because there's more where that came from."

"That weak attack barely tickled," Takeo muttered darkly, eyes raking over the group of friends. His gaze settled on Dizuki again, causing the young boy to shift anxiously.

"I may not be up to par for fighting all of you," Takeo admitted, using his thumb to crack his index finger, "but there's at least one of you that I'm going to kill before I leave here."

Takeo blinked into existence behind Dizuki, his glowing fist raised to pierce the boy's chest and go right through his heart. Dizuki froze, staring up at the behemoth of a man with a look of abject horror. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, the others tensing and turning their heads, Takeo's hand coming down, Dizuki's frightened shout. And then it all sped back up.

"Move, you idiot!" Yusuke tried yelling, but it was far too late. Takeo's energy had already eaten through his shirt, beginning to pierce Dizuki's skin. Dizuki desperately gripped onto the man's hand, crying out in pain. The teenage boy stared in terror at his soon to be murderer.

 _Should've stayed my ass in bed this morning._

And then, from the sky she came, almost as if from the heavens themselves, at least that's how Dizuki felt at the moment.

A foot came up to rest against Takeo's left temple, catching him by surprise.

"Karai?" Dizuki mumbled softly. Karai's kick was was swift as she followed through, plowing him into the ground mercilessly. She quickly retreated, falling back to stop a few feet away from Dizuki. He flinched when she turned her wrathful gaze upon him.

"You goddamn _moron_ ," she bit out.

"I-"

"What did I tell you to do?!" she barked.

"Y-yeah, but-"

"What the hell did I say?!"

"I-I just-"

"You just what? Wanna die?" she growled. "Then do it on your own time, not mine!"

Dizuki recoiled from karai's harsh words, staring down at the ground in embarrassment.

"Aww," Machiko mumbled to Hiei, "you remember when we were like that?"

"No," Hiei replied flatly.

Machiko pouted.

"You're no fun."

Dizuki's timid voice quivered, "I was just trying to help.."

"Well, _don't_ ," Karai hissed, smacking him upside the head. Dizuki flinched at the contact, and Karai's eyes softened slightly. For one hopeful moment, the teenager thought that his friend was feeling guilty for her scathing remarks. Until her gaze hardened again, and she smacked him several more times repeatedly, beating the poor boy down. It had been wishful thinking, really. "So damn stupid! You can't help others, until you help yourself first!"

"I'm sorry!" he wailed, dramatic tears sliding down his face. "Just stop hitting me!"

"Daaaaamn," Kamiko drawled, eyeing the new comer with an approving nod, "girl goes hard."

"They are a rather exuberant pair," Kurama smiled slightly.

"Do we know her from somewhere?" Machiko squinted.

"She does look really familiar.. Like we've seen her before," Yusuke scratched the back of his head.

"We _just_ saw her, you fool," Hiei stated flatly.

"I meant before that!" Yusuke scowled indignantly.

Everyone's attention was drawn back to the more pressing matter at hand, when Takeo hefted himself out of the dirt. He appraised Karai with a sneer.

"Karai."

"Asshole," she greeted casually. Yusuke guffawed in the distanced.

"What are you of all people doing joining ranks with these low levels?" Takeo couldn't help but ask.

"Oh, you mean the low levels that just kicked your ass? Well, I think I just answered that," Karai gave a quirk of her eyebrow.

"Thinking was never your strong suit," Takeo scoffed.

"And not being a dick was yours," she countered.

"You two _know each other_?!" Dizuki glanced back and forth between the two. "I thought you just had Intel on him and stuff!"

"It was a long, long, loooooong time ago," Karai cringed, "let's not go dredging up the past."

"Afraid your human pet will think less of you if he knew the truth?" Takeo smirked.

" _I_ think less of me for knowing the truth. It's like being an adult and looking back at your awkward teenage years. The zits. The bad makeup choices. That seventh grade emo phase," she winced.

"What did you do?" Dizuki wondered seriously.

"Can we not?" Karai looked distinctly uncomfortable.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho

For this chapter I worked with Anya Maygo to finish it. I forget most about this chapter because we were coauthoring when I didn't have a computer and the progress was slow. All I can say is it will be an exciting chapter because Anya Maygo is a fanfiction genius.

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Dizuki sighed awkwardly over Karai's request. He was glad things didn't feel like he was against a dozen monsters…though he felt that Takeo would have crushed him right now if he was given the chance.

"Go on, Karai," Takeo taunted. "Tell them the truth. Tell them how you worked for me."

" _With_ you." Karai interjected. "I worked _with_ you."

"You…you were a bad guy?" Dizuki whispered with the expression of a kicked puppy.

"Boy, have we got a surprise from him about our team," Yusuke mumbled to Hiei who smirked in return.

"Don't look so surprised," Karai thumped the back of the boy's head. "You knew who I was when we first met."

"N…No I didn't," Dizuki glanced around, uncertain if he should be offended at her statement or not.

"Quite the sadist, that one," Takeo noted in a wistful tone. "Hacking away at all who opposed her…"

"Shut up," she snapped, hurling a throwing knife at his head.

"Predictable as always," the giant of a man sneered, easily catching the blade between two fingers. He eyed the steel in his hold with a disinterested gaze. "Don't worry, I was just leaving," he hissed, suddenly hurling the knife at Dizuki and earning a collective gasp from the group.

"Kid, watch out!" Yusuke cried.

"GAH!" Dizuki yelped, bringing up his arms to shield himself. He flinched when he felt an annoyed sigh blow across his face.

"He's gone, moron. Put your hands down, you look stupid," Karai scowled, palm wrapped around the sharp edge of the knife. Dizuki peeked out between his fingers before dropping his arms. Karai stowed the knife away, throwing a dull glance at the jagged cut left in its wake.

"You're bleeding," he noted with a worried expression.

"It's-" Karai cut herself off when Dizuki took her hand in his, bringing it up to his face to stare at it with wide eyes.

"It looks bad," he glanced at her innocently. "Does it hurt?"

Karai felt her face burn at the proximity. "No, it's nothing," she blinked, snatching her hand back.

"Well," Yusuke declared loudly, causing the two to jump, "that was fun."

"Hey, Kamiko," Machiko glanced at her twin, "what's with the attitude? I mean, you were sounding like me right then..."

Kamiko sighed, her eyes fading back to purple and golden fur taking the place of the black-and-white stripes she'd been wearing to go with the yellow eyes. "Felt like psyching out that freak, honestly. I was wincing inside with every swear word I dropped, but you talk that way, so if I was going to pull it off, I had to do that."

"Ah. Hey, can you straighten me out?"

Kamiko studied her sister. "Yeah...I should be able to manage that...with a little help. Someone," she said loudly, "will need to hang onto your busted wing so that it can move the way my wing moves."

Kurama took the hint and came over, gently catching hold of Machiko's wing and straightening the fracture, putting the bones back in place as Machiko winced.

"Try to keep it one-handed, Kurama, you'll need to be holding my wing in the same place."

"Hm?"

"The twin-mend involves mirror-movement, and the only way I can make sure we're mirroring each other is if my right wing is being gripped the same way her left wing is."

"I see." Kurama shifted until his right hand was outright gripping over the fracture to hold it together, and then he took hold of his wife's right wing with his left hand.

Kamiko sighed. "Okay, Machiko; third eyelids and lock eyes with me."

Dizuki was muttering Karai's name to himself while this was doing on. He was sure with all the friends he had at the house they could have stopped Takeo right there and then and Dizuki would be so proud he would buy fish. Buying fish from a stand full of ice was like trusting a fishing hook to pull a fish out of the ocean. He was fumbling somewhere between a helpless boy to a tamer of demons.

"Focus, Machy," Kamiko's voice reached Dizuki's ears, and he turned to look.

Once again, dizzying black-and-white stripes took over on Kamiko's fur and hair, Kamiko's clothing turned the same color as Machiko's, and a moment later her eyes turned gold again, causing the twins to become once again truly identical. It was like there was a mirror there!

Then, slowly, each lifted up their hands and set them together, palm to palm.

The twins then started a great deal of movements, starting out slowly, but always mirroring each other. It got to where even their tails were swishing in mirror of each other, and Kamiko was matching Machiko's grimaces every time the broken-winged side was moved.

The pace got a bit faster, and the energy between them was matched absolutely. It almost seemed like if one decided to outright fly, the other would have no choice but to attempt the same thing.

And for an instant, it seemed like that was exactly what would happen, as both had their wings spread to the fullest with their tails lifting up into poses reminiscent of a squirrel's tail and their hands, still palm to palm, were up in the air. It was an awkward pose for Kurama, who had to adjust periodically to make sure he wasn't in Kamiko's way while also helping Machiko's wing achieve the pose it was supposed to be in.

Then their horns slid into their foreheads again, and both women's face-fur started vanishing in favor of ordinary skin.

The next thing to change was their hands. Their claw-like fingernails returned to something more like an ordinary human's, and the fur started receding.

Their tails both shrank, maybe about a foot; evidently in their regular forms their tails weren't quite as long.

Finally, their wings started sinking into their backs. That was the slowest part of the whole thing, and Kurama was walking slowly forwards. When his hands touched their backs the movement hesitated.

"Adjust your grip, Kurama." Both women spoke at the same time, and the redhead took the hint and carefully scooted his hands further up both wings' "arms," still holding Machiko's wing straight.

The wings continued sinking into their backs, and once the fracture was submerged, both let out quick sighs and Kurama took that as the sign that he wasn't needed anymore and let go.

Then both pairs of wings finished vanishing into their backs, the remaining fur faded, and the two let out heavy sighs, letting their eyes outright fall shut and their fingers interlace, lowering their arms and letting their tails fall. Now they were both human from the waist up, with fur from the waist down, clawed feet and long tails.

Then Kamiko's fur and hair turned golden and Machiko started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Yusuke asked.

The dizzy-striped woman swiveled in place, pointed at Dizuki with wide golden eyes and demanded, "Fish? Really?! You're a riot!" Then she started laughing again.

 _She can read minds?_ Dizuki blushed as Kamiko's deep purple eyes also turned to look at him.

After a glance at her sister, Kamiko sighed and rolled her eyes. "Sorry about that; my twin has a strange sense of humor." She walked over – actually, she almost seemed to be gliding what with the way her tail was swishing behind her – and held her hand out. "I don't believe we've officially met; I'm Kamiko."

She was beautiful, he realized. But standing tongue-tied over an obvious demon was kinda a weird thing for him to do so the only thing he could do was pretend he was thinking about which words to say.

"Uh…I-I'm Dizuki." He accepted the outstretched hand. "Um…you…and she…are twins?" Granted, he _could_ see it, they were built the same…but…their colors were all kinds of not-identical.

She cocked an eyebrow at him with a slight smile. "I get that a lot." She released his hand. "It's one of those facts where you just don't ask any questions. It's just a thing to live with." Then she walked over to the red-headed man who'd helped them with their mirror-trick – what had they called him again? Kurama? – and leaned on his shoulder.

Dizuki wanted to know what Kurama was thinking while he was letting her do that to his shoulder. The only thing he could pick up was Kurama was just standing still like a statue.

The statue-like stillness only lasted for a second, though. Kurama turned his head and looked at her with a smile, putting his arm around her waist.

Dizuki hadn't quite figured out how to take that motion when Kurama looked up at the others. "My wife and I have been left out of the loop. Shall we discuss matters inside?" And he waved a hand at the destroyed wall leading into the living room.

 _Wife?_ Dizuki hadn't thought demons actually married! He wanted to hear the story behind that one!

Yusuke's wife bounced up. "Right! Come on in, everyone! I'll get some refreshments!"

Dizuki had honestly almost forgotten that she was here.

The one who gets to the refreshments last was either the slowest or the biggest gentlemen of the group. Dizuki was just a boy who had to know he was lucky to have so many people giving him time to sit down and talk.

Everybody sat down on the slightly-damaged furniture except for Hiei, Karai and Yusuke. Suddenly, two kids ran into the living room.

"Hey, what happened?"

"Why's the window busted?"

"Who are _they?_ "

Before any other questions came, Kamiko stood, walked over, and knelt in front of the two, setting her hands on their shoulders. "I know you're both very curious about what's just happened, Nasuko, Makoto. I can't tell you everything that has happened, because you're not quite old enough for all of it yet. But I can tell you that there's a bad man running around who will try to make sure you never have another birthday party."

Dizuki wondered briefly how she knew their names when nobody had introduced them. Then he decided that either she'd met the kids before or she'd read their minds to learn. Either way, both kids looked horrified at the idea, and the little girl looked about ready to cry.

Kamiko went on. "If we try to make time to explain everything to you, we could run out of time to stop this bad man. So please go back to your rooms and play and I'll make sure you get some of my special cookies before we go, okay?"

The terror was replaced by smiles, and they ran off upstairs as soon as she lifted her hands.

Machiko blatantly stared at her twin. "How'd you do that?"

She sat down next to Kurama again and smiled. "In the interest of an explanation not constantly interrupted by 'is this bad guy like the bad guys in TV shows' and 'can we fight him, Daddy,'" she mimicked a child's questioning voice, blinking her eyes wide, before returning to her original expression, "I'm not above a gentle mind-nudge and a shameless cookie bribe."

Little children sure did like cookies and Dizuki was a doctor at being a dear and giving children the cookies they wanted.

Keiko got a face like she wanted to object, but then nodded as if accepting the golden-hair's logic.

Kurama draped his arm over Kamiko's shoulders, which changed color to a shade closer to a light purple in response. _What?_ Dizuki was confused for a second, but then he remembered how she'd been flipping back and forth between gold-furred and looking like her sister. _Oh. Right. She can change color. Why'd she change this time?_ There were truckloads of mystery on her.

He was pulled out of his speculation by Kurama speaking. "Now, who'd like to begin the explanation?"

Kamiko's eyes roved about the room. Then she lifted a hand and pointed. "How about we start with why you've got a bandage on your forehead made from Machiko's shirt, Hiei?"

Knowing Hiei, the people close to him knew they could expect either a response where he tells them it's none of their business, a slow reach for his sword to try to make them scatter, or his body temperature rise so much he envelopes himself in flames.

"I just needed a bandage and Machiko provided it."

Kamiko snorted. "Hiei, just because I was raised among humans and chose to live a human life after that first King-Of-Demon-World tournament doesn't mean my IQ dropped. I know you like wearing a bandage over your biggest weapon," a green eye-shaped spot seemed to open right in the middle of her forehead, "but that doesn't explain why that shirt-scrap has _your_ blood on it when you show no other sign of being injured. I know it's not Machiko's because one," she tapped a finger, "she wasn't injured in such a way as to bleed even by Takeo, and two," she tapped a second finger, "it doesn't smell like hers. Hiei, you _know_ us, or at least most of us," she amended, glancing in Karai's and Dizuki's direction. "And let's face it, the more minds are working on solving whatever problem is actually going on, the better chances of us solving the problem quickly and moving on to more important matters. And that means…" she sighed. "Do you _really_ want me dragging the story out of Machiko? The fact that she was _here_ and you were not means that you probably know more about what's going on than she does by default." Then the eye-spot on her forehead actually blinked! "The other option is that I ask Yusuke, of course; I'm sure he'd be _far_ more willing to share with us." The eye-spot faded away again.

Yusuke was the person who just laughed at people trying to ask him for help even if the world was in very serious trouble. No matter how old Yusuke was, he couldn't hide his delinquent self.

Then something started happening to Kamiko. Her skin, fur and hair started changing. She shaded from gold to orange to a crimson red, while her brows drew together. She really hated when she wasn't given all the facts for working out the solution to a problem.

Machiko glanced at the two guys that her twin had requested information from. "Um, guys? You…you really don't want to see her angry. She asked you, both of you, because she knew for a fact that you'd have the most information out of all of us. And baiting her isn't a good idea. Even if you know she won't go straight to black, you _don't_ want her to get to blood-red! Would one of you guys _just answer the question?!"_

Machiko was almost panicking! How dangerous _was_ she when she was angry, Dizuki wondered, because Kamiko had come across as really sweet and she herself had said she was raised by humans instead of the more obviously-dangerous demons. Come to think of it, what did black mean? To hear Machiko talk, apparently black was the most dangerous color Kamiko could wear!

This was the first time Dizuki saw Kamiko change colors based on her emotions, and he was not happy about the normally-sweet Kamiko turning into a demon that made the back of his neck turn cold in fear.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho

I would like to thank Anya Maygo for writing this chapter with me. I always like knowing when I reread a chapter for editing that I know which ones Anya Maygo wrote, although this time I don't know where my mistakes are so please tell me by messaging me or in your reviews please.

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This was a wonderful group of friends Dizuki had. In his world friends were nice to have whether they were human or demon, and he had to get used to demons because they were everywhere.

Machiko sighed. "Men. Okay, sis, I'll explain it. That demon Takeo had attacked Hiei and myself, stealing Hiei's Jagan eye and getting my energy stuck – and by the way, thanks for unsticking me – and I still don't know what in the world is going on. I did try to get him talking when he showed up to attack again after Yusuke and Hiei went to Demon World to talk to Koenma. But apparently Takeo has seen all those movies where the bad guy who monologues gets his ass handed to him, because he didn't tell me anything besides 'it's not what I _want_ …'"

Kamiko's color slid back into gold as she took a deep calming breath. "Okay…so now that I've gotten the first half of the explanation, would _someone_ fill in the rest? Preferably either Hiei, Yusuke, or Karai."

Yusuke couldn't say anything to anyone without bringing up how much he wanted to kick someone's ass; and even though Hiei was better at explaining things, he wanted the new girl to explain it.

Kamiko's amethyst eyes tracked over both of the boys, picking up on those opinions in an instant. Like Machiko, she really couldn't wirelessly read the minds of anybody except for her twin and her husband, but she could always get a sense of what others were thinking just by focusing a little. Then she turned her gaze onto Karai. "Well? Anything to add, Miss 'I Used To Work For-', I'm sorry, 'With The Enemy'?"

"All I can say is being with you people is boiling my head more than chores on a hot day."

Kamiko's skin tone, fur and hair shifted from zero to blood-red in the blink of an eye, but otherwise she was still completely neutral. She reached up, caught Kurama's arm, and removed it gently from her shoulders. "Excuse me for a minute." Then she stood up and walked back outside.

Kurama watched her walk. Then he very calmly settled back against the sofa, his hands behind his head – no, he was plugging his ears?

Then a high-pitched shriek of utter feminine rage and frustration cut through the heads of every demon in the room.

Kurama winced even though he'd stopped up his ears, and Machiko actually dropped to her knees while she was trying to block out the sound. _I knew that was coming._

Machiko knew only Kamiko could make a shriek like that; it wasn't unlike her own fighter-plane battle shriek, so that trick apparently ran in the family. She was screaming in a way only demons like Machiko could hear. Staying entirely within her life as a human had left the chameleon-twin far less bloody-minded; upon being faced with such pig-headed men and Karai, she'd chosen to go outside to let out her frustration instead of taking it out on the source of her frustration directly.

Yusuke, Hiei, Karai and Botan all covered their ears to try to block out the sound, but it didn't really do any good once the sound was in their heads.

What surprised Machiko was that Dizuki fell over, stunned! _Isn't he a human? Why'd he react?_

Kamiko's shriek faded.

After a moment or two of silence, Nasuko and Makoto appeared in the doorway. "Um…" Nasuko hesitated.

Makoto plunged on with the question that was in both their heads. "What was that?"

Kamiko came back in, her color golden again. "It's okay, you two. Kammie just needed to let out some steam."

"Why?"

Kamiko's eyes tracked around the men in the room, and rested briefly on Keiko. Keiko shook her head, begging the blonde to not teach the children any bad habits.

Then Kamiko returned her gaze to the children and smiled, a sparkle of mischief appearing in her eyes. "Come on back upstairs. I'll tell you why I had to let off steam." She swept Nasuko up into her arms, her tail picked up Makoto, and she walked upstairs with them.

Machiko sighed. "With any luck, she won't instill in them any disrespect for their father…but I think everyone else who's irritated her today is doomed. Hiei, I know what you were doing, but honestly if we're going to find a solution to our problem and get your Jagan back, we need to make sure all the heads who are trying to create said solution have all the information." Before Hiei could answer, she swung around and glared at Karai. "And Karai, _what was that all about?!_ I thought you wanted Takeo dead, and I also thought you were willing to cut your losses if you couldn't manage to kill him yourself as long as he ended up six feet under sometime this year! Or did you just want to see what happened if Kamiko got mad? Congratulations: you saw it. Now will you just grow up, get with the program, and help deal with the problem?"

Karai had, in her own mind, already helped with the problem when she decided to leave Takeo and join this group. Now she evidently had to work on getting stronger and not being so rude.

Kamiko came back down the stairs. "So has everyone decided to act like proper strategizing adults instead of petulant children?" she asked, looking at Machiko.

Machiko knew what was up. Sure, _she_ hadn't been acting like a child, but Kamiko wasn't about to risk offending the people she'd actually decided were acting childish by looking at them with that statement; her twin was safe to look at.

Machiko shrugged. "I can always hand Hiei's ass to him if he isn't done acting like a child."

Hiei grinned fiercely at her. "I'd like to see you try!"

She waved a hand negligently. "After we've talked strategy." The fire in her eyes suggested she was looking forward to it.

If they could read Hiei's mind, which was currently behind a big eye, they would learn he'd rather sit against a wall then hear strategy. Although the thought of fighting with Machiko later held appeal; every time they'd sparred back in Demon World, they ended the session in the same bed.

Then suddenly, Kamiko grew her wings again – she didn't take on her demon form, she just gained her wings – closed one, and made the other one paper-white. "So let's review here. This Takeo person; what do we know about him?" Black lines appeared denoting her wing's finger bones, and words appeared just underneath each black line. Under her 'first finger,' the words "Takeo's Basic Goal" appeared. Below her 'second finger,' "What Takeo's done So Far/What We Know about Him." Below her 'third finger,' "Takeo's Attempted Strategies." And finally, underneath her wing's arm, the words "Thoughts on Dealing with Takeo."

"I'll get things kick-started." On the panel of her wing that was labeled "What Takeo's done So Far," she made the words "stole Hiei's Jagan eye" and "froze Machiko's demon energy." "So, does anyone else care to contribute?"

Machiko had actually been waiting for her twin to do that. Kamiko could figure out what to do far easier if stuff was written down, and one of her fondest tricks had been making words appear on her own body until she could get a hold of some actual paper. Usually, she just made a few short notes appear on her hand or arm; clearly she was using her wing right now both as a substitute for a whiteboard and to actually hold the attention of the hardheads in the room.

"Well, the longer he runs around there's a chance he can recruit allies to help wipe us all out. I hope they're not allies with families of their own," Keiko said.

Machiko shrugged. "To fill in your 'Attempted Strategies' column a bit, just going by his scowl when everyone else showed up to pull my tail out of the fire, he'd been hoping to play a divide-and-conquer game."

The words 'divide and conquer' wrote themselves onto Kamiko's wing under 'Attempted Strategies.' Then Kamiko glanced at Karai. "Because you worked with him, you're the best person to fill in the columns about him. What Keiko said falls basically in 'Takeo's Attempted Strategies,' but _would_ Takeo bother with allies, especially now that we're all together? Plus, how familiar are you with his planning process?"

Karai shrugged, deciding that she might as well throw down a couple of bones for these guys. After all, no matter how idiotic, childish, and ineffective they seemed, they were professionals. "Takeo's not all that big on _allies_ , no…but he likes using distractions. Wherever you're looking, you always have to assume that it's only where he wants you to look, and that the real plan is elsewhere."

The word 'distractions' wrote itself on Kamiko's wing under 'Attempted Strategies.' "So what you're saying is that he's brilliant, working a couple of angles at once to make sure nothing falls apart before he wants it to."

"You could say that, yeah."

Dizuki protested. "You almost sounded _impressed_ right there! Isn't he the bad guy?"

Kurama shook his head slightly at the young man. "One can appreciate the skills an enemy has."

"Besides," Machiko rolled her eyes, "if we're all complimenting his skills, it means we'll be better able to prepare for anything. Saying 'oh, he's not capable of all that much' is just asking to get your tail handed to you."

"Oh."

"In the meantime," Kamiko returned her attention to Karai, "how does Takeo generally go about recruiting his distractions? I'd think he'd be concerned about keeping his hold on them…"

"He is keeping his hold but it's not the same hold you're thinking about. There's a bigger chance he has learned to absorb energy no one has before because he is trying to get stronger than anyone has before."

'Attempting to get stronger than everyone' wrote itself on Kamiko's wing under "Takeo's Basic Goal,' and 'Energy Absorption' appeared under 'What We Know about Him' with a question mark.

"Don't forget that creepy weird energy he's got!" Machiko pointed to her sister's wing at random.

"Right, right." Kamiko considered how best she wanted to write that, and finally marked 'High-Level Unique Energy' under 'What We Know about Him.' Then she studied the group again. "So does anyone actually have ideas for how we'll even find Takeo again, let alone kill him?"

"We should send the news that the best meteor shower is in a park we know and-"

"I'm going to stop you, Detective, before you suggest anything so idiotic it will get one of us killed. The answer is the Oni Rippling Cup."

"The Oni Rippling Cup?" Kamiko cocked her head at Hiei. "What's that?"

"Think of the two tournaments Yusuke and I entered. This is a tournament inspired by a human who was the first to survive an ordeal not even demons could."

"Oh. So, Karai…" the words 'Oni Rippling Cup' appeared under 'Thoughts on Dealing with Takeo,' "is this tournament something that Takeo would actually go for? I mean, would he be enough of a diva to where he…does he want to be _seen_ beating us?" The last couple of times Takeo had attacked, he'd made sure he was striking from the shadows…

"It's highly unlikely...unless he doesn't participate in the whole tournament, and jumps in as a surprise "let's kick the victor's ass" competitor."

"I think I want to enter that tournament," Dizuki voiced aloud.

"You?" Karai sneered. "Last I checked you couldn't even beat me."

"Gee, I wonder why I wasn't tough enough to defeat you in the first place."

"Did you come here hoping more than one of us would want you to fight Takeo? The truth is that of everyone here, even Kamiko could kick your ass, and you fighting him will be an insult."

"Actually..." Kamiko had a thoughtful look on his face. "There _is_ something about Dizuki, or why would Takeo have targeted him almost as soon as he noticed the boy's presence?"

"Hey!" Dizuki protested the 'boy' label, but Kamiko was continuing.

"If Takeo hears that Dizuki has entered this tournament, he might feel motivated to enter right from the start in hopes that he can kill the boy then."

Machiko laughed. "Honestly, if everybody in this room with even a hint of demon blood entered that tournament along with Dizuki, he'd probably jump at the chance to whip all of our tails. He _was_ trying to kill me, after all."

Kamiko pointed at her vividly-striped twin. " _You're_ sitting out. It's too risky for you. It was risky enough with you fighting him twice before..."

"I'm not sure I'd call our first encounter a _fight..._ "

"...and I'm still not sure that there won't be repercussions."

Machiko fell silent as the two of them locked eyes, while everyone else in the room just looked confused as to the cryptic twinspeak. Only Kurama looked like he had any idea what was going on.

Machiko finally growled, "Fine," and looked away.

Kurama spoke up from the couch. "Hiei, I think you and Machiko should go into the kitchen and have a long chat. I'll help Dizuki and Karai figure out how we'll go about defeating Takeo."

Hiei glanced warily at his mate. He was sure something was up with her, but he wasn't sure he wanted to find out.

Machiko looked about as keen to have a long chat in the kitchen as Hiei did, but she shrugged. "Alrighty, just let us know if anything you come up with involves us." She turned, her tail twirling up and wrapping around Hiei's wrist, and started towing him towards the kitchen. Then she paused and glanced back. "Kamiko…"

"What." Kamiko already suspected she knew at least the theme of what her twin was going to say, and her color morphed into an odd gray tone.

"…Is it true what they say…" a positively wicked grin hit her face, "about fox demons and their sexual prowess?"

Kamiko's colors instantly shot straight into a swirl of cherry-tomato-red and lavender. " _Machiko, you are banished to the kitchen!_ "

Machiko, having achieved her sisterly goal of embarrassing her twin, ran out of the room, dragging Hiei by his wrist and laughing the whole way.

Amazingly, the words had remained on Kamiko's wing through that emotional explosion. She growled "sisters…" under her breath as she fought her coloration back to gold with white wings, and then studied the room. "So…where were we?"

#

Takeo was right to have returned to Demon World on this day. He was seeing a scale of demons from Rank D's to Rank S's.

 _So much new fodder for me to obtain power from,_ he thought to himself with a grin.

What Takeo didn't know was that some of the fodder wasn't going to let him win and exact his evil plan.

#

At that time Dizuki was training with Machiko. He worked hard as his arms could work.

In fact, forget his arms: his whole body was working as hard as it ever could, and the striped young woman was still essentially kicking his butt without even swapping to her winged form. Actually…

"Ma…Machiko? Are you…are you going easy on me?"

She tripped him up from behind with her tail – for the fifth time – studied him, and with a wave of her hand called a break. "If I said yes, would you get offended?"

"Hell yeah!" The outburst would have had more impact, Dizuki decided, if he hadn't still been gasping for breath.

She caught up a water bottle from a small table and took a drink, pitching a different bottle at him with her tail. "The answer is 'sort of.' I _am_ having to hold back my strength a little bit, but what I'm mostly doing is choosing not to use any of the more lethal attacks I'm capable of." She glanced at the patio clock. "You've got a ten-minute break. If you have any other questions, this is the time to ask them."

Dizuki listened. Suddenly, he realized he wanted to let her try to land one of those lethal attacks on him. He had to be going crazy.

Machiko sighed. "Dizuki, take a good look at me, size me up and tell me how you think I could possibly kill something without even bothering to resort to my demon form."

 _How'd she – right. She can read minds._ Shaking that thought away, he carefully studied her.

She was a beautiful human woman from the waist up, though her hair was still vibrantly-striped. From the waist down, however, she had black-and-white fur covering well-toned legs – presumably, at least; Dizuki's view was partially obscured by her dark shorts – and a long, swishing tail that he knew was prehensile and could grab anything the size of a person's wrist…sort of. Her grip wasn't very secure when the object was that small, as every time she flung him by his wrist it was because she'd lost her grip.

He watched her tail swish for a bit, and ventured a guess. "Um…you can strangle people with your tail?"

Her tailtip spun. "Well, technically yes, but it's not a method I use during battle very often because death by strangulation takes too long. Continue…"

 _What's she getting at, then?_ Then Dizuki's gaze landed on her bare feet.

Bare of socks or shoes, not bare of fur. The soles of her feet were probably tough enough to where she didn't need shoes, and besides she probably couldn't wear shoes when she had toes that long…and…claw-tipped.

"Very good, Dizuki." Her feet flexed, and her claws left furrows in the ground. "With these babies, I can slash arteries, rip out throats, or – my preferred method of dealing with guys who piss me off – just disembowel them." Her tail twirled into Dizuki's line of vision, and the tip pushed gently against the underside of his chin, forcing his eyes up to stare right into Machiko's golden. "Knowing that, do you _still_ want to try to survive my lethal techniques? I don't have the skill to put you back together afterwards, either."

Dizuki smacked her tail away. "Skills, skills, skills. I am bullied for not having the skills you guys have, so what I need to do is survive so I can work on one of _my_ skills."

Machiko's eyebrows lifted, but then she shrugged. "Whatever. The point's to train you, not kill you, so even if I do happen to go for a move that could tear you apart, I'll be pulling the blow so that you survive the move. I trust you do actually want to live until the tournament?"

Dizuki nodded.

"Okay," she stretched, "since you're so desperate to kill yourself…" Suddenly, one of her feet swung towards him, its claws reaching for his stomach!

Dizuki remembered her using this kick on him before, only with her claws pulled back, and his first move was to try to grab her ankle.

Machiko's ankle smacked into one of his hands and he did succeed in getting hold of it with both hands, but he hadn't braced for the force behind her kick. Her foot slammed into his stomach, and he heard the rip of her claws piercing his shirt.

Frantic, he tried to hold her foot still, but she just had too much momentum. However, his grip was so good that instead of being flung backwards by the kick like every other time, her foot dragged him over and she wound up pinning him to the ground with her foot on his stomach.

Gasping for air again, he suddenly became aware of something trickling down his side. _Oh. Damn. Her claws still got me._

"The only thing that would have allowed that move to work," Machiko remarked conversationally, "was if you'd braced yourself properly. When you're not able to brace, you're better off rolling with the hit. Now let go of me, and we'll see what the damage was."

Dizuki let go of her ankle as if it was on fire, and she bent, unhooked her claws from his shirt, and then tugged it up to look at his side.

There were five neat bleeding punctures in a row, averaging about a centimeter in diameter each.

"You weren't braced at all, were you?"

"Uh...not...really?"

"That's why you got off so lightly. If you hadn't grabbed my ankle, my claws would have grabbed you like they did just now, but you'd have been sent spinning through the air instead of squashed. And from there, if you'd stuck your landing, you'd have been able to come at me with a counterattack."

Now _she tells me._ Dizuki slowly got back to his feet.

"Let's get you to Kurama. You can train with bruises, scrapes, scratches and minor cuts, but major cuts and punctures must be tended to properly before any further training, which was why I waited so long to use my claws at all."

Dizuki was horrified at how such small skin breaches would slow his training down, and he was heading into a dangerous life-threatening situation!

Machiko smiled. "Don't worry, Kurama can patch you up really fast. He's a fox-demon, and his big shpeal is that he's really, really good with plants. If a plant has healing capabilities at all, he can enhance it to the hundredth power to near-instantaneously heal injuries."

And here Dizuki was worried Kurama just spouted blood-munching plants that looked like they came out of his nightmares. Instantaneous healing was a very strong skill.

Kamiko was waiting with Kurama. "You used your slash-move, Machy?"

"He asked. No, really, he asked."

"Whatever." Kamiko waved a hand at her twin. "Shoo; you don't need to hover and watch."

Machiko shrugged and wandered off, leaving Dizuki in their hands.

"Is it just me," Kurama remarked absently as he pulled a couple of plants from under his hair and started fussing with them, "or is your sister rather more…touchy than usual?"

Kamiko shrugged as Kurama set the now-glowing plants against Dizuki's side. "Eh, maybe a bit. She doesn't really care for being told what to do, and she loves fighting almost as much as she loves racing." She reached around with some gauze and bound the plants to Dizuki's side. "Being told that she has to sit out the tournament over a pregnancy is a serious downer for her."

Kurama could think of reasons his sister-in-law should enter this tournament and they mostly had to do with Dizuki's scratch marks. A demon who lived for the chance to fight, who was going through mood swings, was dangerous unless given a constructive - or directed destructive - outlet for all that energy. Besides, a child of Hiei would love to be in a battle even as a fetus.

Kamiko glanced at her husband and sighed. "I just keep thinking like a human, Kurama, and forget that Machy's a demon. Maybe I should - "

"Wait wait wait wait wait," Dizuki waved his hands to get their attention. "Machiko's _pregnant?_ " Where in the world had _that_ come from?

"You mean she didn't mention it?"

"Uh, _no!_ " Dizuki thought he surely would have remembered if it had been brought up!

"Isn't that just like her. Well, yes, she's pregnant. I'd say she's probably about a month or two along, hence the reason it hasn't shown yet. The only reason I knew was because when we were doing that synchronization thing, it was something we didn't match on and I noticed."

"...Oh." After a second of silence, Dizuki ventured another question. "Um, she's married to that short demon...Hiei, right?"

Kamiko laughed softly. "Well, saying they're married is stretching it a bit, but they _are_ mates."

"So how's he taking it? I mean, it sure seemed like he didn't know what you were talking about with your sis..."

Kurama answered the question. "He...could be taking it better."

"Let me guess. In that eyeball forehead of his, he's trying to think of ways to torture people into helping him become a good parent because he can't handle the stress?"

Machiko came back in just in time to hear the end of that. "Dizuki, Hiei's dad was a no-show and his mom's entire society threw him out when he was just a baby. And a band of thieves found him, took him in, and helped him reach adolescence which is why he didn't just die, but they didn't love him. In fact, when he demonstrated how much he liked killing, they threw him out of their band. He never had good role models for how to be a father, period, let alone a good one."

Dizuki wilted under the yellow-eyed glare. "Um...do I at least have the "he's trying to get someone to help him become a good parent" thing right?"

Machiko sighed, her eyes rolling towards the ceiling. "After his initial shout of 'what,' which I'm sure you all heard, he'd gone extremely silent. I'm not entirely clear on what he's thinking right now, because mindspeech isn't the most straightforward language: if one isn't specifically directing their thoughts at another, it can be very subject to nuance and interpretation. The gist, though, is that he's trying to...to add another side to the geometric shape in his head that makes up his life. You know, the whole parent thing. Once he's accepted that he's got a different shape to his life, he'll settle down."

Kamiko cocked an eyebrow. "And what about you, sis? How are you taking it?"

"The whole mother thing? Uh..." Machiko went silent for a second. Then she smiled wryly. "I've been trying as hard as Hiei not to think about it, really, although," she added as an aside to Dizuki, "it's less that I didn't have a role model for being a mother - I did have a mother - and more that I hadn't been interested in having kids from the get-go. But...it happened. And I'll just have to live with it." Then a grin popped back onto her face as she returned her attention to her twin. "Incidentally, thanks for deciding I can enter the tournament after all."

"Just be careful, okay? I know you could care less about the survival of your science project, but at least _try_ to avoid serious injury!"

"Yeah, yeah. Dizuki patched up enough for more training?"

Kurama nodded while Dizuki groaned.

"Quit whining, twerp. You're the one who wanted to enter this tournament without a lick of proper fighting experience, so now you've got to learn survival the hard way."

Dizuki was learning about survival and the biggest lesson was how people he thought were his friends could be just as merciless as demons who'd been ordered to kill him.

Kurama did explain what they were doing, though, at one point when he was choosing to train the young human. "Mercy here can get you killed in the tournament. If we're hard on you now, your odds of survival go up. It's why I'm training you at this point. I won't go easy on you."

Dizuki didn't have any witty remarks on how he felt the same way and wouldn't go easy on Kurama. For one thing, he knew that he, as a human, didn't stand a chance of actually seriously hurting the fox-demon. But he would give it his all, and hope it was enough to give him a fighting chance in the Oni Rippling Cup.


End file.
